Azurite
by MaliciousContent
Summary: Azurite wakes up on a ship wondering what has happened to her and what is going to happen. She falls for a gem but is placed in a group filled with misfit gems. She becomes a courageous leader, compassionate to all her subjects but has a shadow lurking within her. Can the Crystal Gems help her or is the shadow too powerful? Rated T for some bloody chapters. Squeemish beware!
1. Chapter 1

Azurite's eyes opened slowly. She was somewhere but she did not know where. Her sight was dimmed and it was very hard to stand but with sluggish movements she gradually wandered into the hallway. _Everything is hazy what is even happening? Where am I… Where is Rose?_ Thoughts were surfacing but she couldn't attach herself to one in particular. The walls had fluorescent lights and wires connecting every which way. Azurite passed through a barrier of golden hues which tickled her but all she could do was shudder through so as not to make a sound. She didn't notice a tall green gem next to her typing on a keyboard. Azurite made a creak in the floor and the gem turned around, its eyes becoming alert. The gem then realized that the sound she heard was actually something wandering around when several more were made. "I had better not just be hearing things as I would have to get remade," she spoke to herself while she rolled her eyes.

The smaller gem started running but not fast and she bumped into a wall making a loud smack. The tall gem ran over and got her plasma gun ready, the neon green fingers at their prime. Azurite stood shakily and got her fists ready but she saw her reflection in the tall gem's visor. She stopped hunching and stared. Three lines were over her left eye and two on her lip. She touched her face and felt the sore spots then looked down and saw how long her legs had become. "What happened to me? You hafta tell me!" she yelled aguishly.

"I do not owe you anything what so ever. You are just a mistake that should not exist. You are to be shipped to the labor mines on Galaxy: 3654 Sector: 9 within a few hours. Pathetic gems like you go there to create expansions for Homeworld. I do not even know why you came to us small but we fixed you," the gem seemed to talk forever about how great Homeworld was even though she said that she wouldn't tell Azurite anything. "You might even be something entirely new but you are not special at all! Yellow Diamond is the most amazing gem that ever existed."

Azurite sat down as she started to get woozy, "I am going to take a nap, okay, smart one?" Her eyes were beginning to show colors and strange objects but she felt the green gem shake her arm.

"I am taking you to your cell so that I do not have to deal with you later," the gem said snappily as she dragged Azurite back in front of the closed cell. _How did this creature even get out?_ She thought as she threw Azurite into her confinement. The gem hit the wall with a groan.

"What is your name?" Azurite asked as gently as she could.

"Its Vexus… but only because I messed up once!" she responded indignantly.

"That is a nice name…" Azurite responded with a slurred voice.

Vexus wondered why she was getting such kindness from a small gem like this one but she pushed the thought away and went back to work on a large screen. Azurite's eyes began to lower until she fell asleep. This would not be a restful sleep however.

* * *

Machines whirred all around her. She had no clothes on and was surrounded by gem technicians probing her body. They cut open her left eye and inserted a strange device. Blood was splattered around her quivering body as they experimented on her small body. They dissected her gem even when she was struggling. The screens that were above her said that she was previously half gem and half other species. However, now they said that she was scheduled to be 75 percent gem and 25 percent other species. She wondered what was even happening but got distracted by an incoming pain. A large injection was given to her gem and her body felt like liquid. She remembered yelling and pleading for the technicians to leave her with humanity but they wouldn't hear it. Tears rolled down her face as she increased in size and aged 10 years until she was 18 human years. She became mature looking and her human features began to turn gem like, a strong torso and a slim body. The scars decreased but stretched out in length due to her sudden growth. She heard the technicians clamoring and talking about why they couldn't make her anymore gem.

Suddenly Yellow Diamond walked in through the doors. Azurite whimpered but could not speak because the gem's presence reminded her of what Rose said about the Diamonds. She slipped out of her restraints and looked at the big diamond right in the eyes. Yellow Diamond strolled over to the table where Azurite was now standing on top of, trying to be as tall as one of the leaders of the gem race. This failed but Yellow Diamond noticed how defiant this gem was. Azurite's legs were shaky and her body was still forming but she realized that she had new strength. "Foolish child get down from that table immediately or I will have someone deal with you," Yellow Diamond said sternly.

Azurite climbed down from her position but ran over to the diamond and punched her in the knee. Yellow Diamond was enraged and shoved her foot into Azurite's face, "I am done with this failure."

"If that's all you got, then you are a failure," the smaller gem croaked just loud enough for Yellow Diamond to hear.

She snapped around and proceeded to beat Azurite until she couldn't move. The doors slammed closed and the defeated gem felt victorious as she fell asleep on the floor.

* * *

Azurite woke up laughing an hour later. Vexus pretended she was not watching Azurite sleeping uncomfortably. "Oh my gosh Vexus! That was awesome right? I totally beat Yellow Diamond in willpower!" the gem shouted with glee.

"Uh that sounds inappropriate but why were you dreaming. Dreaming is not allowed on Homeworld and we are thirty minutes away. Reform yourself," replied the gem sternly then blushing, "and it is not like I was watching your dream or anything."

"Sure, Vexus, you are one interesting gem," Azurite replied with a smirk touching her eye but then pulling away as the pain stung her. She groaned and leaned against the cell wall in agony.

Vexus reached out to the cell wall but her metallic fingers were shocked. She felt pity for the gem but the green gem could only watch her. "Can you tell me about yourself?" she asked to try to help in the smallest way possible.

The blue gem groaned, "My name is Azurite and I am from the planet Earth filled with humans and some gems. I was six years old when I met a beautiful gem called Rose Quartz-"

"Rose Quartz?! The infamous Crystal Gem that has been ravaging our troops?" Vexus blurted out.

"Well I guess that is probably her. But she was like my mother, she took care of me and made sure I was well. We lived together for several years, running away from the war but then we were found by some Homeworld gems," Azurite was becoming woozy again with a fuzzy feeling in her head, "she fought for me but they pulled a dirty trick on her. I couldn't fight because some weird flower poisoned me just like my dad except he didn't make it. Rose was very hurt so I decided to go with the gem onto the ship. That is all I remember before I got here. What year is it anyway?"

The green gem looked inquisitive but fought the desire to ask another question while typing into a screen Azurite's id, "The year is 1645," Azurite's eyes were confused but Vexus continued to clarify, "you were shipped around because many technicians wanted to study you. You were experimented on and that is why you have this strange appearance. It seems like you have not been aware for all these years," Vexus scrolled down the list, "I have never had such an interesting conversation."

"Can I ask you another question?"

"Sure," Vexus answered dignified.

"Why is your gem on your chest and not your head? The other gems that resemble you have them there," Azurite asked inquisitively not knowing that this was a soft spot for Vexus.

"Uhhh I was overcooked... I am actually a Peridot but I am called Vexus. I was a failure because my gem is on my chest opposed to my head. Usually gems go on specific places for each type of gem. The only reason I am alive is because I am a good technician. I am not good with all this question business," Vexus spilled herself to Azurite, who understood how she felt.

Slowly Azurite began to crush on Vexus. _Goodness what are these feelings... They are not quite what I felt for Rose._ "Thanks for engaging me Azurite," Vexus said looking to the side with a slight blush but then shouting, "For some reason I feel clarity but I am not going to trust you!"

"Anytime," Azurite fell into the depths of sleep calling to her once again.

* * *

"Good morning, Azurite," Rose calmly said to Azurite.

The smaller gem stretched out and gave Rose a big hug, "Good morning, Rose."

Rose held Azurite as the sun was rising. The smaller gem ate breakfast and Rose watched. After she scarfed down her food, Azurite wanted to go for a walk around the forest to look for pretty rocks. Rose and her held hands as they strolled down the path; it felt so warm and fresh to be close to the sea and the mountains. Hours passed and they found a bunch of neat rocks and seashells and went back to the camp. The two decorated the rocks that made a foundation around where they slept. Stars crept across the sky gradually and the two gems saw fireflies swerving around them gracefully. Azurite watched Rose as she started to dance and joined her. At eight she was a good dancer because of all the practice Rose had given her. The two fused together and became one with a graceful form.

"This feels amazing," they said as the dance continued, "Have you ever fused before? Yes I have but it was for the sake of war."

They unfused eventually and the tall grass was swaying back and forth against the starry sky. When it was very late, Azurite fell asleep in Rose's arms. Azurite saw that Rose was weeping after she tucked her in. "We can't ever escape Homeworld. I don't want this for Azurite. I want to protect her and be with her forever," Rose sobbed and Azurite desperately wanted to comfort her.

* * *

"Hey Azurite?" Vexus asked, less harshly shaking the blue-eyed gem's shoulder, "We are here now."

"Ugh," Azurite groaned, "Thanks for being my friend for this trip. Please act like you usually do when reporting back I don't want you to get in trouble."

"Of course," Vexus replied indignantly, but worried for her "friend."

Azurite staggered to her feet and walked through the hallway but stopped, "Where is the exit again?"

Vexus stifled a laugh but got in character, "I will lead you, follow me weakling."

Just then, Azurite touched Vexus' gem tenderly feeling how smooth it was, calling it beautiful for such a horrible place. She embraced the green gem, but she did not know how to respond so she left her arms at her sides. Vexus noted how warm this body was that made contact with her. Azurite realized that she could not affect the life of this gem with her problems again. When she let go, the green gem stared into her eyes and told Azurite good luck.

"We will meet again won't we Vexus?"

"Probably not," Vexus responded unsure of her answer but with fierceness. _I should have hugged her warm body... I am such a clutz._

Azurite was led outside the ship and surrounded by Jaspers and other warrior gems. She was bound while Vexus watched with her arms behind her back, clenching her fists. The blue-eyed gem thought to herself, _Darn that Vexus was hot… Maybe I can see her again._ Her thoughts were once again understandable. She was prepared for whatever the future was.


	2. Chapter 2

Homeworld was filled with machines working tirelessly and restless gems wondering when they would get sent off to war. Azurite passed twelve royal blue gems all in a line, one broke the trance for a second but went right back to its trance. The blue-eyed gem turned around to see Vexus' ship lifting up into the horizon to transport more gems to Homeworld. When they had walked for ten minutes, Azurite saw that a group of gems were laying down, some forms glitching out. _Why are they lying down?_ As she was wondering, she looked at their gems, all partially broken. More were being output from the building she was going to enter. _Dang it I am so screwed! I can't even talk or fight, what should I do? I wish Rose was here, she would know what to do._

The doors opened automatically when she went in front of them. The blue-eyed gem was led through to yet another cell that she already knew was escapable. She pretended like she was caught inside but when the warrior gems left, she got up and walked outside. The feeling was electrifying but Azurite felt euphoric when she got into the hallway. She smashed her bounds on an edge of the wall and started running with newfound strength. Azurite's sight was still not that great however, and she bumped right into Jasper who looked at her right in the face and threw her back into the cell. Five minutes later, the blue-eyed gem got up and ran past Jasper who was three feet away to the automatic doors. "Stop right there!" Jasper yelled angrily.

Azurite waved good-bye and crashed into the window, thinking that the door was in this location. She attempted again but this time the door was closed and Jasper loomed behind her with yellow eyes glaring. Jasper picked her up and took her straight to Yellow Diamond's office, "Here is the trash you ordered, great leader."

"Thank you, Jasper. Now leave us," replied the exalted leader in a malicious tone of voice, "You are better when you don't have your voice," looking at her screen, "I think that I will send you to do labor for our next colony on a primitive planet called Earth. You will do work to make this glorious race the most superior."

 _Yes! I can find Rose while I am there. Screw Yellow Diamond, I will not be her tool._ Azurite began to smile, her eyes becoming joyous; she was horrible at hiding her emotions especially when they were so vivid.

"And don't think you will meet up with Rose Quartz ever again. I had her broken for her crimes a stellar month ago," said Yellow Diamond assertively.

Azurite's gleam of hope vanished within seconds but she knew that she could get away with something to make the diamond angry. She stood up and did a flip, falling on her face. Picking herself up she telepathically communicated with Yellow Diamond, hurting the ruler's head with the volume, _Beat that great ruler!_

Her head stung from the use of power, she had never even known that ability belonged to her; she just did it on instinct. Yellow Diamond's face contorted and she sent Azurite to another ship that was Earthbound. Thinking to herself Azurite laughed. _I am so awesome!_

The ride there took a couple days so the blue-eyed gem decided to take periodic naps every couple hours. Azurite was bound against the wall this time with a few guards but she somehow found comfort. She felt sleep calling to her once again.

* * *

"Hey dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you always hurt me and then return to being nice?"

"You were a mistake of mine, you killed your mother. I don't really have a choice anyway. You might get me killed and I am only human."

After a long silence, "Hey dad? How come you don't call me by my name?"

"Because I don't want to get attached. It is your turn to not eat today isn't it?"

Azurite had not eaten for the past few days but knew that her dad was poisoned and he needed to eat, "Yes, dad, I hope your leg gets better."

He had horrible memory and found it hard to look at his daughter, as she was what left him without love. Azurite always wondered what her mother was like but whenever she asked, her dad would push the question away.

* * *

Azurite woke up thinking about how she got her skintight outfit on. She was already used to it as she had been working in it for a while, but it was a bit restricting. There were many buttons that she had no idea were. _Please let me dream about that, head._

* * *

She heard loud sounds and vibrations all on her body as technicians were installing an experimental suit that was made to make sure that she could withstand all conditions just like manufactured gems. It was black and blue, with arrows dividing her arm and leg joints. The arrows were blue along her arms and legs but the rest of the suit was black. It came with a restrictor so that she couldn't talk.

This suit enabled Azurite to be strong but it made her feel cold inside as it made her lose more humanity. _I like being strong but I don't want to give up what I had with Rose._

* * *

Azurite's eyes opened but all she could see was blurs, they were entering the Earth's atmosphere and her head was hurting with all the pressure. She touched her eye to feel if it still hurt and it was just a bit sore. _Man I heal quickly._ The ship landed in a desolate area and Azurite was pushed outside promptly, the ship departing as soon as she hit the ground. She was dizzy and staggered around looking for food remembering that she needed to eat something. A berry bush was close to her so she ate a couple handfuls of them but threw up. It would be hard to get nutrients down as long as she had 75 percent gem in her.

Azurite wandered to the edge of a cliff and looked over, subsequently falling down it. She rolled into the mining area and many gems stared at her as she picked herself up. The blue-eyed gem couldn't speak so she just waved. Most of the other gems were exhausting their physical forms but Azurite looked like new blood. She was surrounded within minutes but could do little other than touch their faces, which worked for a while as they had never been this close to someone. Azurite tried the telepathy thing again but with a more relaxed tone, _I can't talk right now, and this is taking up a lot of energy, can one of you guys take my restrictor off?_

The gems began chattering but finally decided to get out a gem-powered pickaxe. _Uh what is that thing?! Oh my, you guys are gonna murder me with that?_

Azurite was tackled to the ground arms flailing and had the pickaxe jabbing into her neck, completely destroying the restrictor. She felt the freedom and her suit became less cold. The blue-eyed gem could now move and talk freely. The other gems absolutely hated how she became happy and gave them hugs. They had never experienced touch or warmth in their lives. Azurite picked up a gem-powered pickaxe and felt it sapping her power away gradually. "Wow you guys deal with this everyday?"

The gems acknowledged her, "Yes for thousands of years."

Azurite smiled and told them all to rest for a while so that she could mine for them. Most were exhausted but relieved and retreated into gem forms. She picked them up, cradled their gems and put them under leaf blankets. _Vexus I will work my way to you…_

All night long, the gem mined the hills, rocks and anything that she could find. Azurite felt that some blankets would be good for the exhausted gems so she found some human village after running for thirty miles to get some fresh air. She asked for blankets and fortunately, the people were kind enough to give her as much as she could carry. They told her the story of a powerful pink gem that had helped them a while ago. Her name was Rose Quartz and she came with other gems that helped them build the town. Rose had been on Earth for four thousand years while Azurite was out. It was too late to see her, as she had been broken by Yellow Diamond. Tears streamed down Azurite's face but she came back to the mining area, wiping away her tears. Some gems were returning to their physical forms so she gave them blankets.

The gems just stared at her but she smiled, thinking to herself, _There are at least twenty of these guys here, I wonder what I can do to help them…_

A smaller golden yellow gem walked up to her and put her blanket over Azurite's shoulders. "What is your name, small one?" asked Azurite gently taking the blanket off and wrapping it around the small gem.

"It's Citrine and I am good at running but not lifting!" she said.

"Wow, I like your winged helmet."

"It was from a nice human in the village ten miles to the west."

"Can humans find where we are, Citrine?"

"No, if anyone approaches us, they will feel sick and remember that they have something else to do," pausing for a moment, then blurting out, "Oh yeah! This is my best friend, Blue Topaz!"

She dragged her shy blue friend over who began to blush, "Hi my name is Blue Topaz but you can call me blue."

"That is a cute name!" Azurite said trying to boost Blue's confidence. "Were you royal a while ago?"

"Yes I was but I had a problem with my vision of the future… I could only see things that pertained to the color blue," she turned solemn and frowned, "Yellow Diamond isn't blue."

"Oh Yellow ding dong? She turned blue when she was upset with me!" Azurite chuckled but was surrounded by gems that were questioning if they should trust her.

"She stood up against Yellow Diamond what do you have against her?!" Citrine angrily shouted but the buzz of angry gems was too loud.

The rumbling of the gems turned into outbursts, and struggles, trying to figure out what to do with Azurite. Some malicious words were heard but they saw things in her that they could not see in themselves. In the end they decided to hear her out.

"You guys, we need to stand together. Can't we work together as a team? Give me your trust for just this one battle and you will see that working together as a team is the most effective way to live. There is a ship incoming! Let's fight them back or we will all be broken," said Azurite carefully.

The gems were all moved and shouted, "Yeah let's take back our lives!"

The fight lasted the best part of an hour, starting with soldiers coming out of the ship to pick out any useless gems. They lined up all the gems and picked out the weak ones like Citrine and Blue. All of a sudden, Azurite threw her pick straight into a Jasper's gem, shattering it completely, the shards falling to the ground in slow motion. In this second all of the labor gems and Homeworld warriors charged at each other. Many labor gems were being broken with unfair tactics as they destroyed the Homeworld gems one by one as a team. Azurite fought with a large fused gem but she could not fight seriously so she broke their fusion with a swift pickaxe to the back of the leg. The other two small gems broke each other's gems but the third one decided to fight Azurite. She took out a sword far to big for her and charged. Azurite gave her a giant hug and pushed the sword through her system. All the labor gems looked towards their newfound leader hugging an enemy. Blood dripped from the sword but her physical form warped around it, protecting her vital organs. The blue-eyed gem smiled and touched the mini gem's face. "What is your name?"

"It's Carmine but more importantly why aren't you dead?"

"I haven't the faintest idea but I think that you shouldn't have to fight, stay with us, Carmine, we need you," Azurite said with a bit of a wince as the pain was seeping in.

Carmine removed the sword and dropped it. She looked around at all of Azurite's warriors watching her every move and ran into the middle to smash a Jasper's gem. All of the labor gems shouted in triumph at having another warrior. Azurite staggered to her feet and ran straight into more Homeworld gems shattering their gems. After the hour was over, Azurite watched as the surviving gems flew away on ships. There were only five of her warriors alive, Citrine, Blue, Carmine, and two green gems. The two green gems' names were Jade and Emerald. Emerald could not speak as her gem was located at the center of her throat and Jade was royalty who was a free thinker. Jade shook Azurite's hand and blushed when she made eye contact. Emerald smiled and turned into a wolf, which knocked Azurite over to give her kisses. Azurite was laughing so much, not even worrying about the gap in her stomach. She realized all of the gems that had given their lives to them and became sad. The six of them decorated a monument with the shards of their gems. Small Carmine was quiet but grew to love her new family of gems.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Heya guys! This chapter was kinda quick because I wanted to write a bit about what was happening to Vexus! Thanks so much for reading! 3**

Vexus looked into her keyboard and frowned, she wanted company and these Jaspers weren't all that talkative. She got back to work with a sigh and flew the ship to an area which needed reinforcements. Her green fingers ran through her gray hair and then went back to the keyboard. _I miss you Azurite… Will I ever see you again or will you just forget about me?_

She dropped the Jaspers and Carnelians off, and flew the large ship back to Homeworld. Vexus got out and stretched, something she hadn't done before but felt good. _Why am I feeling all these emotions? Is it because of Azurite?_

The automatic doors opened for her as she got in the vicinity. Jasper had never acknowledged her before but she pushed Vexus against the wall. "How did the mission go?" she demanded.

"It went…good," said Vexus nervously, disliking this contact with the highest ranked Jasper.

Her eyes became wide as Peridot walked over with a smirk on her face, "You don't look so certain of your answer, Vexus. Care to explain?"

Yellow Diamond walked out and saw that her soldiers were ganging on Vexus. The ruler spoke, "Step back you two, Vexus is only doing her job no matter how much of a mistake she is, I would hate to lose another competent gem."

Peridot scrambled out of the way and Jasper stepped aside. "So how was your mission, Vexus?" Yellow Diamond spoke calmly.

"It went as expected, Yellow Diamond. All the warriors have been delivered to their stations," Vexus looked to the side as Yellow Diamond looked back to her screen, "Do you have any other assignments for me today, madam?"

Yellow Diamond's pearl looked over with a smug look and walked away to get a box. She opened the box and spaces for three blue collars were there. However there was only one actually inside. Vexus turned around and two other gems were standing still like soldiers. One was Pryoite, who had gray gloves, and a long red vest that draped down to her brown pants. The other was Tanzanite, who had yellow skin, blue dress, and a gem covering her eye. They were both wearing the collars. "I heard that you were acting different from one of my soldiers, Vexus," the ruler spoke clearly, "We are just going to fix you up."

"No, wait, I don't need one of those, Yellow Diamond, I don't have any emotions hindering me," Vexus gulped as she knew it was evident that she would be equipped with a blue collar.

Blue collars shocked a gem every time they felt an emotion until submission and remission back into a hollow gem. Just like Vexus was before she met Azurite. She started to back out of the room but Tanzanite and Pyroite held her arms. Peridot wanted to look away but watched blankly as Jasper took out the collar. They had malicious spikes all over. Vexus started to struggle as she felt how cold the other gems were, she didn't want to become like them. She felt the sting of the collar's spines going into her skin, "Please take it out, it really hurts!"

When it was attached, Vexus was immediately shocked. Peridot watched what she could have become. She promised herself that this would never happen to her. Vexus was carried out to a cell, limbs flailing from the constant shock. The green gem could hear her screaming from Yellow Diamond's office. She walked out of the room like a soldier with Jasper by her side. Vexus was shocked for several days straight until she became hollow just like her new partners.

"Vexus, how do you feel?" asked Yellow Diamond.

"I feel sublime, Yellow Diamond," replied Vexus with dull eyes and a monotone voice, one that was appreciated by her ruler.

Years passed and Vexus became an unemotional rock that reported to Yellow Diamond periodically. She didn't have any thoughts of her own and was always ready to comply with orders from her superiors. She organized bloody missions and watched gems break and creatures get slaughtered heartlessly, her inner-self gone from existence. Vexus was reserved and quiet while she took her soldiers to planets and had them murder life forms that she had never seen just to expand the colony. She never slept and her companions kept close watch, their emotionless selves having too much power.

"Fuse with us, Vexus," Pyroite and Tanzanite demanded but Vexus did not answer, she just stared blankly into their blank eyes.

She shook her head and was shocked by the collar until she agreed. They fused into a giant war machine and ravaged the planet of Terra, blood staining their arms and legs. This went on for hundreds of years, fusion was a terrible experience but Vexus couldn't call it anything like that for fear of being shocked. She emotionlessly drove the ship places she had never seen before just to destroy them and their life forms. One night on the ship, she fell asleep while thinking about the entirety of math in the world.

* * *

"Vexus, are you okay?" a voice called to her from the void "You haven't been warm for a very long time… I am good right now; I made a family of gems. If you want to come, then just try."

"Who are you?" Vexus demanded.

"It's me, Azurite, can't you see me?"

"No, I can- Now I see you, how are you here?" Vexus asked feeling the pang of emotions flowing through her veins.

"Does it hurt, the collar?" Azurite asked quietly.

"It hurts everyday, why do I see you now, it will shock me when I wake up."

Azurite drifted away as she had little time but drew a heart in the void of non-existence. Vexus reached out but her friend was too far away from her grasp.

* * *

The blue collar shocked her awake with the ardent emotion she was feeling. Her partners watched her bolt up and then sit back down in her chair. "Vexus why did you fall asleep," asked Pyroite in a scolding tone.

"My body is weak because my gem was malformed, sorry for the inconvenience," replied Vexus emotionlessly.

"So was mine and I am still much more powerful than you," Tanzanite said with monotone in her voice while rolling her eye without the gem covering it.

"I know, everyone is stronger than me, I have no excuse," Vexus spoke, "What is the point to this life?"

She was shocked once again and the other gems laughed at her pain. _When will I be rescued from this place… Azurite please let me see you again._


	4. Chapter 4

Azurite looked into the river at her reflection and saw that there was a red triangle forming on her circular deep blue gem. She looked behind and was surprised to see Emerald staring at her in wolf form. Emerald walked over when Azurite patted the space beside her. "Emerald… I think that I am sick. Are you able to heal me? I feel like I can't hold back this ugly triangle forever."

Emerald changed back to her regular form, _"Azurite, I can try but I don't think that I can heal a person who is going to die for certain without a healing."_

"Can you just try, if it won't take any of your power away?" Azurite pleaded and Emerald nodded.

She felt fingers in her gem and started to pant but held still. Sweat was forming on her brow as the red pain seeped from her forehead making her body feel numb at the digits. One of Emerald's fingers hit the hot spot and Azurite yelped as she felt how cold the healer was compared to the virus. She desperately tried to heal her leader but all she could do was suppress the pain. Soon Emerald was panting and when the process was done, she had made the triangle much smaller. She retreated into her gem, Azurite holding her and thanking her.

 _So I am going to die? I had better not get close to anyone, as this could be transmittable. I love Jade but I have to refrain, she is better off without me._

"Hey Emerald? Would you mind keeping this a secret? I know that it will transmit so I won't fuse with anyone," Azurite knew she would regret these words later.

* * *

A few years later

"Come on Az! We gotta get to the top of the mountain to see the stars!" Citrine shouted while holding Blue and Carmine's hands.

She ran with them to the top of the hill as the stars were steadily and cautiously showing themselves. Azurite realized that Jade did not want to go but wanted alone time with her. Emerald watched but couldn't say anything and turned into a wolf to start sprinting up the hill to catch up to her friends. "Come on Jade… We have to get up to the top," Azurite delicately said, offering her hand, "Don't you want to see the stars?"

Jade stood up, grabbed Azurite's hand, "Do you honestly think that they actually care about you? They just want to live off of you, but I want to be your friend."

"Jade, I love all of you, but the stars won't be up in the morning and it is especially clear tonight. Come on, I will carry you," Azurite picked her up into her arms and Jade held onto her with tears in her eyes.

 _Azurite will never be with me… She is the first gem to be this close to me, I have to find a way for her to like me._ Jade loved everything about the blue-eyed gem from her personality to her curves and welcoming arms.

Jade had had enough of holding her feelings in over the years "Azurite, do you love me?"

"Of course I love you, Jadey," Azurite said with a smile and a twinkle in her eyes, not knowing what this would lead to.

Azurite stopped abruptly, "How about yourself?"

"I love you Az, that's why I asked."

Blue's head started hurting when she received new information about Azurite. It was horrid what would happen if the said event would happen. She ran towards the edge and watched the events unfold. Jade abruptly leaned in and kissed Azurite, her eyes opening wide. She hesitated because she knew what could happen but leaned in and reciprocated, the two fusing together. "Whoa I have never fused before. How does this feel? It feels great!"

All of the other labor gems looked over at this new creature, giving itself a hug. Was it Azurite or Jade? Blue started to cry but stifled herself and hugged Citrine. "Whoa Blue, what's wrong?"

Blue's eyes were saddened, "The stars are so beautiful tonight Citrine. I am glad you are here with me."

The fusion departed and as Azurite held Jade's hand up to the top, the labor gems started to clap and cheer. Emerald was watching wearily in wolf form but changed back to human form and clapped with a smile on her face. Most of the gems had never seen a fusion before so they were extremely excited. The night went on as the stars sparkled until the break of dawn. Azurite was usually good with not sleeping for a few days but she was especially tired on this night with all the drama happening. Jade had Azurite's head in her lap as she drifted off to sleep. When the smaller gems began to rest, Emerald and Blue looked at each other, then to Jade, "Do you know that bad things will happen don't you Jade? You can't stay with her. She is our leader and doesn't need to be distracted by your feelings."

Jade looked to them, "Azurite has never been in a relationship or fused before, I am just giving her some new experiences."

Emerald closed her eyes and communicated to the other two with telepathy, _"I believe that there is something wrong with our leader, her virus is getting worse she asked me for help but I can only heal what won't kill someone. That is why she was afraid to get close to us, because if she fuses then her pain might fuse to her partner, we tried and now I am infected."_

Jade's eyes widened with sadness, "Does that mean that I have it too? I mean if I already have it, then there is no point in us not being together."

"Well, I see plenty of futures of Azurite but none of you but Emerald can probably tell if it spread or not," Blue said, thinking about all of the horror her leader could perhaps go through, watching her partner crack and turn against the group.

 _"I can try but healing you would be a different story of whether or not it could crack you. Jade, if you love Azurite, stay away from her,"_ Emerald communicated to her group nonverbally.

Jade looked lovingly at Azurite, then started to feel fingers go inside of her gem, the pain seeping through and a sickening warm feeling spreading through her chest. She began to cough silently so as to not disturb her love. Emerald's fingers withdrew and red fluid began to drip from her fingers. Tears rolled down Jade's face, as she saw that she was infected, but her want to stay with Azurite did not decrease.

* * *

A few days later, Emerald met Azurite by the river pool like they had for the past few years. "Hello Emerald, I know that I messed up… Jade probably has my sickness now. It just felt so nice to be with her," Azurite said practically trying to reason with the tall green gem.

Emerald did not change into her usual form, her red triangle glowing red, and instead leaped onto Azurite, slashing at her gem and biting into her neck. "Hey Emerald you can calm down now! That hurts, I think I am bleeding!"

Her friend wouldn't stop until Azurite passed out from the loss of blood. Emerald realized that she didn't turn into gem form. _"Azurite?! How come you didn't go into gem form?"_

She became frantic with blood dripping from her mouth, her red triangle disappearing slowly when her anger faded away. Azurite got up, holding her throat with her hand and started to smile at Emerald, "It hurts doesn't it?"

Emerald looked to her betrayed friend with fear in her eyes and scampered away, not to be seen even when it was nighttime. Azurite washed her throat out in the water and wrapped it in human gauze tape. _I wonder if she will come back. It wasn't her fault that she hurt me, she couldn't control the anger she felt for me fusing with Jade._

She walked up the hill and realized that her gap was also healing thanks to Emerald, _I have so many things to be thankful for, Emerald is a valuable partner._

Azurite's teammates rushed over to her when they saw that she was bleeding, but she said that she felt fine. The labor gems and found that she could not retreat into her gem form if injured and knew that she would have to be extra careful.

* * *

Azurite looked around for Emerald under rocks and bushes. Her wounds had healed up and she felt really bad about ruining her friend's trust. "Emerald! It wasn't your fault! Please come back!" called Azurite through the depths of darkness.

She eventually found her friend, cowering in the bushes, _"Stay back, I could hurt you again. I am dangerous!"_

The blue-eyed gem stepped cautiously to her green lupine friend and gave her a hug, "You didn't do anything wrong, but we really need to get that virus out of you and Jade, would you be willing to help me find a cure?"

Emerald nodded and slowly calmed herself to a steady rhythm of breathing. Azurite felt compelled to fuse with her friend suddenly so she stood up and Emerald transformed back into her humanoid form. "Come on let's dance," Azurite said with a welcoming voice.

Azurite began to dance, carefully stepping ahead, twirling. Emerald hesitated but did a graceful twirl step and jumped into Azurite's arms, the two fusing on impact. A giant red triangle formed over both gems, located on the neck and the forehead. They had a green version of Azurite's suit. Four arms spread out and they became twice their size, adorned with two sets of eyes. Swaying to the side, the two decided to walk up the hill, not knowing what they were doing. Citrine, Blue, Jade, and Carmine were making flower chains for each other when they noticed a huge figure looming over them. They cowered in fear as they noticed that the creature was coming for them. Citrine grabbed all three of her friends and took off running to higher ground. They couldn't tell who or what the creature was that was chasing them. When faced with the inability to go to refuge, Citrine became fierce with fearful anger and charged the beast, "Who are you?! What do you want with us?"

The creature didn't respond but instead picked Citrine up with her hand squeezing her body and put her at eye level. She was struggling but what could she even do at her level? "My name is Labradorite, I am your loyal companion," the creature spoke unsure of its answer.

Labradorite realized that her friends were terrified of her and set the now quiet Citrine on the ground, who backed away to her group and the fusion tried to break but the red triangle broke the unfusion. "Please help us… We can't unfuse!" the fusion cried out in pain, "Its us, Emerald and Azurite, please defeat us."

Upon realizing that it was the leader and the healer, the smaller gems became nervous, "Please we can't hold back much longer!"

The two were straining to unfuse but they didn't make any progress in their situation. Citrine, Carmine and Blue looked at Jade, who began to cry. Citrine, Blue, and Carmine fused quickly together to fight the fusion. A huge axe formed on this large, orange and blue fusion, Jade watching in fear of her friends getting hurt. She loved them all but decided to run away to find a cure, "Hey! I am going to find a cure! Can you help hold them still until I come back?"

The fusion nodded and Jade sprinted off, hopeful that she would find her love a cure. She ran to the first village where Azurite got the blankets but they did not have any idea what the red triangle was. Jade saw a gem ship land in the tall swaying grass close to the beach and she decided to go check it out. She stepped on a strange flower but ignored it, and continued walking to the ship. Three gems got out of it; the red one was larger than the other two and walked next to a yellow gem. A green gem walked out like a robot with a screen out, analyzing the environment. Its eyes stared soullessly at the screen, and its partners pushed it around. The green gem looked used to the harassment so she didn't fight back. Jade saw that it had a blue collar on and the others had scars where their collars were, _What do those mean? Where are their collars?_

The yellow gem whispered something to the red gem and they got their weapons out, the green gem readying its plasma blaster. Jade changed into a mouse and scampered away under the tall grass. She was shot at but it stopped when she got far enough up the hill near the village. Jade looked back to the sight of burning grass, the fire coming out of the red gem's palms. After changing back into her humanoid form, she decided that she really needed that medicine for her friends and charged through the fire. "Pyroite, a gem is running towards us, should we capture or break her?" the yellow gem spoke to her leader with a poisonous tone.

"Let's see what abilities she has, maybe we can use her," Pyroite responded with a smirk, "Vexus make her sorry."

Vexus nodded and aimed her plasma gun at the light green gem, firing six shots into her leg. Jade toppled over onto her arms and felt adrenaline in her body and began to grimace, "Give me the cure! I need it for my friend Azurite!"

The tall green gem's eyes widened as she heard her friend's name, but was followed by a shock to the neck. She groaned, "This gem is for you two, I don't have time right now."

The second she said her words, Jade was incinerated, her gem shattering at the touch of the hot fire. Vexus turned around and felt more emotion, which shocked her, but she felt something enter her pocket. It was a note written in delicate writing which read:

"Hi, my name is Jade, I was a servant gem but I was also a free thinker, I can teleport anywhere that I want in time. I saw that you loved Azurite so please try to save her. I know that I am supposed to die here otherwise nothing can happen so please don't let my death mean nothing. Love, Jade."

Tears threatened to disturb Vexus' eyes but she held them back and put the note in her pocket. The singe marks of Jade's body looked like an angel with her gem in the center, cracked in several places. She began to want to find a cure, but felt the tinge of guilt at not stopping the killing of her friend's lover.

* * *

Azurite felt that something happened to Jade and her side began to cry out in anguish. Emerald's side took over and forcibly fused with the other side, inducing screams as the fusion became bigger than the mountain beside it and it walked on eight legs to the village. All the villagers were in shock at the creature crushing the village. Screams were heard for the next hour until no one remained. The fusion was trying to defuse but it didn't have the willpower to. It razed any villages that it saw. The gems within and became desperate, deciding to spit out Azurite with all their effort. She fell onto the ground, wiping tears out of her eyes, watching what she did. She looked to the left of her and saw Jade's broken gem surrounded by ashes. "Bury us Azurite," she heard all of her friends calling to her in a disorganized voice.

She picked herself up, summoned her pickaxe and began to dig a hole, spending an hour, watching the fusion try and tear itself apart. The hole was a few miles deep and she walked to the fusion, which whacked her in the stomach with its tail. She grimaced and her pickaxe grew five times in size and she cut the fusion in half, all of the gems falling to the ground into a pile, reattaching themselves. She threw them into the hole and covered it with dirt. Tears welled and slipped down her face as she sat down and leaned against a rock, thinking about all of the horrible things she did. She looked to her left and saw her lover's pieces all over the ground. _It's all my fault. All of my friends are dead… Jade is right next to me maybe I can revive her. God, my suit is so sweaty! Why can't I take it off?!_

The gem proceeded to have a mental breakdown, the blood spilling out of her until she grabbed Jade's gem, her breathing slowly returning to its normal pace and fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N Thanks everyone for getting this far, I know things are a bit weird but they will piece together. -Mali**

A cold wind was felt from the north as the blue-eyed gem found herself laying on a lichen filled rock, holding her perished friend's shards. Azurite looked down at her stomach, gaping but slowly healing. She wondered how long she had been sleeping. The mound of dirt in front of her had sprouted green grass and flowers, which was an indicator that she had been sleeping for a little more than a week. She touched her left eye and realized that the scars had decreased slightly. A small human child was watching her with a spear, his eyes fearful and desperate for safety and food. Azurite picked herself and Jade's remains up, stashing them in her hip arrow space.

"Are you from around here human child?" she asked inquisitively but with concern for the boy.

He stared at her and nodded, but it seemed like he was harmless, all he ended up doing was crying. She picked him up, figuring that he was around eight years old. _Argh I probably killed his family, better make amends._

The boy calmed down and Azurite began to walk down the hillside with the child in her arms. The sun was rising in the valley, lighting up all the crevices. Azurite stifled her tears as she found a nearby village that had miraculously not been destroyed. It was lined with tents made of wood, stones, or cloth, as if it was on the brink of modernization. The people surrounded her for some odd reason, welcoming the blue-eyed gem as if they knew her. They took the brown haired child into their arms and smiled at Azurite, thanking her. The humans invited her to stay with them so she made a tent out of large pieces of wood, aided by a male human. He made her a blanket to sleep on and gave her hot tea, fresh from the fire. Azurite began to wonder about all this kindness, "Are you sure it's okay for me to stay here, human man?"

"We are thankful that you brought back our child. He got lost while playing at the beach, some monster came raging through, destroying many villages, but it missed ours thankfully," the human spoke casually even though he had just met her and looked at her clothing, "Are you from around here, your clothing looks strange."

Azurite blinked at the question, "Yes, but my clothing comes from Homeworld, a gem colony ruled by four diamonds."

"Oh! A gem called Rose Quartz said that she was rebelling against them! She is the leader of the Crystal Gems. They are in the west now, I believe, fighting in the Strawberry Fields," the man said, noticing the glimmer of hope in the blue-eyed gem's eyes, "Are you a gem?"

Azurite debated whether or not to tell the truth but decided to trust this human, "I have both human and gem within me, coexisting together."

As Azurite moved the hair away from her gem, the human man's eyes widened, trying to understand the concept but not quite comprehending it, "Anyways, my name is Torre, what is yours?"

"My name is Azurite, Torre, it is nice to meet you," responded the blue-eyed gem with hint of sass.

Torre and her talked for several hours about what had happened, she spilling her whole adventure to him, and him telling her about Rose Quartz and the Crystal Gems. Azurite became tired and after the fire died low, she stood up and crawled into her tent, bidding the man a good night. She wrapped herself in the wool blanket, feeling the warmth of sleep, coming to her but she fought it for a while. _I wonder if Rose can help me get my friends to separate. My gem still has the red triangle; maybe she can fix that too. I need to get to her as soon as possible… I miss her so much._

Azurite closed her eyes for a minute but unintentionally fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

"Hey, did you guys want to go to the beach?" Azurite asked her friends, knowing already that they all wanted to go from the light on their faces.

Jade nodded and the group leapt up and followed the blue-eyed gem's steps. They hiked over a hill and saw the view, water sparkling and waves rippling as the wind blew across it. The smaller gems ran down the hill while the taller gems took their time. A beautiful tree stood on a patch of grass in timeless beauty. Azurite remembered that tree, the one that she and Jade kissed under. She walked over to it and felt the bark, Jade holding her hand and Emerald watching, her eyes narrowed. Azurite carried her partner to the water and spun around several times, gently setting her on her feet. The wind caressed Jade's cheeks and hair, making Azurite blush at her beauty.

All of a sudden, a bloody fusion came into the pleasant dream and attacked the group, smashing them all. She heard screaming coming from around her as the world turned grey and black. Azurite's eyes fluttered open in terror.

* * *

"Whoa Azurite! Are you okay, it looked like you were dreaming something fierce," the human man asked with concern.

She nodded her head violently and got up abruptly, "Is it breakfast time yet, Torre? I am starved."

Torre smiled and invited Azurite to a breakfast of fruits and berries. She sat with the group of villagers to eat the delicious food and to tell stories. The village elder told a story of Rose Quartz and her three friends, protecting the valley from Homeworld. Azurite was intrigued at her leader's feats of justice and strongly desired to be with her. She stayed with the villagers for several years, becoming great friends with Torre, going on long walks through the forest, to the beach, carrying Jade's remains with her. Azurite watched as Torre grew old without her, having several children with a village lass. She was heartbroken when he passed away, just days from his partner. Azurite missed her friend, but watching his two children grow old was interesting to her. The blue-eyed gem knew that she was losing track of time, slipping through her fingers, but she loved how the villagers treated her like family. The boy, Rey, who she had rescued, would go for walks with her until he had children with a royal woman who hated Azurite. The two would scuffle occasionally until Azurite said she would leave the boy alone. When his children had children, they became princes and princesses. Rey eventually passed away a month before his wife, Azurite not finding out until later.

One day, she realized that she could not stay with these now modernized villagers, too many deaths and too many births; she needed to move on after a couple hundred years of this life. All of the old villagers were gone, but the new people gathered around her to bid farewell. She wished that she hadn't said goodbye but continued to walk over the hills until she found a statue of Rose, one that she and Torre had discovered together. Tears welled in her eyes but through the blurs, she saw a circular object that she hadn't seen before. Azurite put her hand on it with caution and began to destabilize, removing herself from the foreign object. The blue-eyed gem fell onto it when she got up too fast and started the quick process of destabilization, her eyes clenching shut with fear. She ended up in Strawberry Fields but saw no signs of Rose or her Crystal Gems. Azurite heard a rustle in the bushes and three small white dogs with gems jumped onto her, knocking her over.

"Oh my goodness what are you guys?" she asked, laughing when they licked her neck, "Why don't you have faces?"

The pups just cuddled with her until she stood up and put both pups in her arms, "Have you guys seen Rose? She was here for sure a couple hundred years ago, I feel bad but I was distracted by time passing me by," she took a deep breath, knowing that the pups couldn't understand her.

" _Can you guys communicate telepathically?"_ she wanted to test if animals could use telepathy.

The pups looked to each other, _"Yes, we can, Rose Quartz created us out of broken gem shards, we are small but can help you."_

" _Broken gems? Oh, on your chest, back and belly? They look fixed to me,"_ Azurite replied, noticing how the colors looked similar to her three small friends' gems.

" _Rose can heal, don't you remember?"_ the pup with the orange gem answered.

" _Oh yeah! It has been a while, her healing powers are the best right?"_ Azurite replied, remembering how they felt, " _Is she still here? I need her help and I want to be with her again,"_ Azurite asked.

" _She is no longer here, a large battle was fought and now she is in other places, fighting for freedom with the Crystal Gems,"_ the pups answered.

" _Would you like to help me look for Rose?"_ Azurite questioned.

" _Sure! Our names are Carmine, Blue, and Citrine,"_ the pups asked innocently, noticing the names hurt their friend.

" _How are those your names? You aren't them it's not possible. They are still fused in a hole that I dug for them,"_ Azurite became very nervous, _"You guys aren't real are you?"_

" _Oh no, we are real, but you just can't believe it,"_ Citrine replied.

Blue smacked the back of Citrine's head, _"We are real, Azurite, but right now you need to calm down. We can go away if you want us to."_

" _No, you guys can stay, but how did you get unfused and where is your red triangle? Why are you dogs instead of yourselves?"_ Azurite responded, asking question after question.

 _"We can't remember certain things for strange reasons, but we remember that we love you,"_ Carmine spoke, her faceless head turning away, _"Don't you want to play with us still?"_

 _"I guess we can play for a bit,"_ Azurite replied and the very second she did, her friends bolted up the field, her following them as quick as possible.

By the time she was up the hill the dogs had run effortlessly up, Azurite was covered in strawberry juice. Her friends licked her suit-covered legs and arms. Her clothes could never come off as they were fused with her skin. She always wanted to take it off and feel the grass with her toes and hands, but she had accepted that the suit would never come off. Azurite's head started to ache, the red triangle beginning to glow painfully. She shook her head and knelt to the ground, petting and hugging her friends. The sun was setting for the day, and the strawberries looked golden. Azurite traced the gems on her friends with her fingers, feeling the smoothness, them becoming golden. Her skin became golden with purple shadows and tears began to fall from her solemn face, "I am so sorry for leaving you guys in that hole all those years, now you look like this."

 _"It's okay Azurite, but we really think you should let Jade go,"_ the trio replied, looking to their friend's pocket.

 _"No… I can't leave her alone ever again; she is just too valuable to me. It's my fault that she was disintegrated,"_ Azurite wiped her tears away, _"Can't Rose revive her like you guys?"_

 _"I am not sure she is going to come here soon, Az,"_ Citrine said _, "Let Jade rest in the ground, we can go to the tree at the beach and bury her there."_

Azurite stifled tears but realized that her friends were right about Jade. She needed to move on and let her partner rest. The group went to the portal and all barely fit on the disc, miraculously being able to teleport to a city in a war zone. They walked past gunshots and cannons, Azurite turning her head to see a large figure in the distance but urged to go on by her companions. The sun was towards the end of the sky, signifying that it was evening. Wind was teasing the grass, making it glisten in waves of sunshine. The area was absolutely beautiful and Azurite's memories of the place came running back into her head.

When they began to go downhill, the blue-eyed gem thought she saw Jade and sprinted to the tree, only to see her smile and disappear her timeless beauty going into space. Tears began to roll down Azurite's face, stooping to her knees and beginning to dig a hole. Her friends trotted over and sat down in a line, being as respectful as they could. Azurite's gloved hands were full of dirt, her gem aching from the stress. She took Jade gently out of her pocket, holding the shards like they were diamonds, "Here you go, I love you Jade."

Her dirty hands covered the small opening in the Earth as she gave her friend an eternal rest, leaving the chartreuse tree, with a feeling of peace in her heart. The wind kissed the tree, blowing leaves into the air in a swirling pattern. Azurite's lupine friends trekked by her side up to the top of the hill, the full moon rising. She wanted to see her leader because she desired to be with her again and not to heal her friend Jade. "Death is a funny thing," she said, "When you lose the person you love the most, you never want to lose anyone again."

The wolves howled in anguish but noticed that their leader silenced them, glitching out, "We must get revenge for her."

Her chest heaved as she felt a line of pain stretching down her chest to her stomach. She couldn't see through her suit, so she thought nothing of it when the pain went away. Citrine, Blue and Carmine became fearful but licked her hands, she petted her friend's heads and decided against the idea of revenge, not knowing an alternate would spring from the decision.


	6. Chapter 6

The breeze whisked Azurite's sleeping spirit awake and her blue eyes opened. She blinked a few times to adjust to the morning light, her friends yawning to wake themselves up. The blue-eyed gem looked downhill after standing up and saw that something was off about the tree. She walked down the hill followed by her lupine friends, "Whoa this looks strange, is it a barrier?"

" _Don't you remember, this is similar to the barrier at the labor camp,"_ Carmine communicated to Azurite.

"Oh yeah! I remember this type, humans can't get through because they remember random things and walk away," Azurite was hopeful for her friend, "Looks like Jade will be safe from now on!"

" _Don't you wonder how it even got there?"_ Citrine asked while stamping her paws, and to Blue and Carmine personally, _"Isn't it weird?"_

" _Well I don't see any blue intruders in the future,"_ Blue said calmly to her while settling down on a patch of grass.

" _We are fine Citrine, let's not bother with it right now,"_ Carmine said putting her paws on Azurite's knees.

" _Aw you guys are so nice to have around,"_ Azurite communicated, stroking Carmine's ears.

The blue-eyed gem sat down and watched as Blue and Citrine were seemingly communicating personally to each other. She shook her head and turned it to the beach, "You guys want to go the beach?"

" _Yeah!"_ the lupine responded, sprinting after their leader in swift motions.

They ran into the flowing waves, all the way to their necks, soaking themselves to the bone in the salty water. Azurite's suit adjusted to the water, and she could no longer feel the cold feeling or the grit of the sand, unable to swim, she couldn't go far enough to get her head under the water. She frowned but turned it upside down and played with her friends until they were tired out. They took naps on the sand as the waves lulled them into a deep sleep. The three wolves slept around their leader protecting her from harm while she sang to them like she used to in a sweet melody. When the wolves were asleep at last, Azurite's eyes began to droop and the wind took a final brush across her face, putting her to rest.

* * *

The area was dark as Azurite drifted through, wondering where she was. There were a few stars so the blue-eyed gem guessed it was somewhere in space. She saw a green figure with its legs to its chest. As she got closer it began to get more familiar, "Vexus are you okay?"

The figure looked around but gave up hope and sank its head into its knees. Azurite called again, "You haven't been warm for a very long time… I am good right now; I made a family of gems. If you want to come, then just try."

"Who are you?" Vexus demanded. "It's me, Azurite, can't you see me?" "No, I can- now I see you, how are you here?" Vexus asked inquisitively. "Does it hurt, the collar?" Azurite asked in concern for her friend. "It hurts everyday, why do I see you now, it will shock me when I wake up." Azurite drifted away as she had little time in her sleep but drew a heart in the void of non-existence with her finger. Vexus reached out but her friend was too far away from her grasp. The blue-eyed gem felt horrible that she couldn't stay, her friend needed support but she couldn't give it now.

* * *

 _I can't believe that I almost forgot about Vexus. I am such a horrible person._ Azurite was thinking to herself, staring into the cloudy orange sky as she noticed her friends were gone. She sat up and looked around for them, not finding a trace except for a path through the trampled grass. Running along it, the blue-eyed gem discovered that her lupine friends were sniffing in the area that Jade had been burnt in. She stooped over in tiredness from the hills and her panting stopped allowing her to observe the footsteps. Some were in the shape of Vexus' foot, while others looked like human feet. Azurite was shocked, "Vexus didn't do this. She would never hurt anyone."

 _"Don't you see the evidence? Azurite, Vexus killed our Jade, she is heartless and a snob,"_ Citrine spoke, partially convincing her leader.

"Then how did she kill her while standing that far away?"

 _"Simple, she had a long range flame gun and slaughtered Jade with it!"_ Carmine said in anguish.

Azurite blinked her doubt away and felt the glowing heat of pain in her gem and pinched it, grimacing at the power of anger. Her eyes turned completely red, "Where is Emerald then? Why did you guys leave her alone?!"

 _"W-we were separated a while ago, we h-have no idea where she went,"_ Blue said fearfully as she could sense her leader's anger was getting the better of her.

Azurite calmed herself by breathing and realizing that her friends did not deserve the anger. She calmly said, "We will get Vexus when she comes to us, she will pay for her mistakes."

 _Why did I ever trust that gem! She killed Jade. It will never know what hit it._ Azurite completely dehumanized Vexus, severing all ties to her.

The wolves looked to themselves and continued to converse with themselves privately as their leader sat on a rock and contemplated. After a bit Azurite decided that she needed something to do, "Guys. We are going to fight Homeworld gems that are coming to the Earth, it could be fun."

 _"As long as you think it's right, we will follow you wherever you go,"_ the three responded, tongues lolling in tiredness.

Gem invasions were happening every day now, usually multiple places at once so as to throw off the rebel gems, so the group figured that if they just wait a bit, then one would happen close by. They waited until they heard a loud crack sounding into the Earth's atmosphere. The three wolves fused into a giant version of themselves as tall as their leader and with three heads. She hopped onto its back and it took off towards the ship. Azurite was ready for the fight as she craved something to dull her anger. They fought these gem battles for hundreds of years, using a pickaxe, teeth and claws, becoming stronger and getting used to violence.

The battles became progressively more modern as gem and human technology was evolving, but Azurite and her team stayed the same. One day, a large bomb was dropped that was later called an H-Bomb. Azurite told her friends to run far away as she was stuck under rubble from a previous explosion that coursed through the valley. They sprinted off, up the hillside far out of sight. A blood-ridden smile spread on the blue-eyed gem's face as an H-Bomb smashed into the ground beside her, reducing the valley to ruins and radiation. Her body began to destabilize, and for a split second, she began to panic. She couldn't go into her gem; she would probably never come out if she did. Her struggling could not keep up with the overwhelming force of destabilization. The blue-eyed gem became calm and realized she would finally be put to rest. Azurite gave in to her gem's power and poofed into it, feeling relieved for the first time in a long while.


	7. Chapter 7

A while ago…

The creek ran calmly across the rocks creating a rhythmically calm sound that was disrupted by the grunting of a gem exerting its power. She rocked, trying to concentrate her power into one point.

" _Hey Jade, I think you are getting the hang of it! Keep trying!"_ a green haired gem communicated to her.

She closed her eyes again, centering her power while sitting on a rock next to the blue creek, her cautious friend keeping careful watch to make sure she didn't break herself. After exhausting her energy, Jade was ready to give up, "Ack! I can't do it Emerald! It's too much for me."

" _Once more?"_ pleaded Emerald, giving Jade the puppy eyes, desperately wanting to see if her friend could perform her inborn ability.

"Alright fine, but I can't promise you it will work!" Jade replied panting, she realized that she could show this ability off to Azurite later.

Jade concentrated her will for ten minutes straight with nothing happening besides her gem glowing. Emerald's firm hand pressed against her back, forcing her to stumble into the time continuum. Eyes widened, Emerald realized her friend was nowhere to be found and shrugged her shoulders, taking a long nap. An hour later, Jade tumbled out of the time continuum, landing on her face. She was flustered, "Holy humans! Emerald, everything is horrible in the future! I die because of a gem called Pyroite! You are gonna fuse with Azurite and get everyone screwed over! There is so much stuff that I learned… Emerald are you… awake?"

Emerald was sleeping on the ground in wolf form, snoring fairly loudly. Jade decided she should keep all of this to herself, accidentally forgetting her adventure in her sleep. Soon, the both of them were snoring until it got very late.

The humans were throwing their annual fire festival, shouting at the tops of their lungs on the summit of the mountain, waking the two sleeping gems. Emerald transformed back into humanoid form after yawning as Jade noticed just how late it was, "Emerald we gotta go! Azurite is probably waiting for us."

The two ran up the hillside back to their camp. Azurite had fallen asleep while waiting for them, and was leaned against a rock. The other three gems were nowhere to be found, probably off playing in the bushes somewhere. Jade touched her sleeping friend's gem, making her wince while in a deep sleep. The green-eyed gem looked to Emerald, "Is she going to get better? She looks sick and feels warm all over."

 _"She probably won't, all we can do is try and help her feel as comfortable as possible,"_ Emerald communicated calmly, _"Jade, you know that you can't be with her."_

"Will it really matter in the end, I love her and that is all that matters," Jade spoke frustrated at her friend's ignorance.

Emerald rolled her eyes and shrugged, morphing into wolf form and walking off, her red glow showing off her anger. Jade frowned but sat next to Azurite, cuddling her warmth.

The next day, Azurite went off to see Emerald but stayed at the spot for too long and Jade was getting worried. Carmine, Citrine, and Blue were looking for their leader. When they finally found her walking up the hill, she was holding her neck with her hands, bleeding profusely. Her friends surrounded her and bombarded her with questions, but Azurite said it was not Emerald's fault.

 _Oh no… Azurite can't go into her gem form, this is a bad thing and I must protect her._ Jade thought to herself many ways in order to protect her partner while she got human wraps to put around her neck.

When she was all wrapped up, Azurite was knocked over by her friends to take a rest. The green-eyed gem had previously stitched up a giant blanket for the group so she threw that on them and crawled into the pile. Jade's eyes forbid sleep but Azurite's arm was welcoming her to the hallowed destination. Her lids closed and she let all of her worries go away peacefully.

* * *

In an alternate timeline, Azurite's eyes flickered open in a glowing red color. Her lupine friends were terrified of the red triangle hovering around her gem and they scrambled to get away. The now red-eyed gem yelled in pain, trying to control herself as her suit turned red. A line of pain was forming from her chest to her stomach but she couldn't see through her suit so she pushed the pain off. Azurite shouted through her teeth "Whoever killed Jade will pay for their mistakes with their life! Let's break them into many pieces," the suit had turned completely red where the blue parts used to be.

Citrine became frustrated with how angry her leader was getting, _"Azurite you need to calm down now,"_ her leader's triangle becoming material and attaching itself to her gem.

When it was futile to stop the malevolent gem, the wolves ran far away from her, leaving their leader in pain and anguish. The wolves felt as if a compass was guiding them. After running for a day and a half, the wolves by accident, found Rose Quartz and her Crystal Gems in a dense forest. They stalked the group for a ways, but decided that they would go see her again. Citrine poked her head out of the bush, awkwardly in front of a short purple gem who instantly grabbed her. She was excited, "Rose, Pearl, Garnet, look what I found! It's a dog!"

Rose Quartz turned around and calmly said, "Amethyst, I think you should put her down, Citrine looks scared."

After dropping Citrine, Amethyst frowned, "Oh you guys are back, so lame."

 _"Yes we are,"_ Blue spoke quietly.

Carmine noticed her friends were worried and spoke up, _"Can we ask for your help, Rose Quartz? Our friend has let her sickness get the best of her, she might be destructive to the people around her. It's a day's run from here."_

They had not told Rose Quartz their friend's name so she had no clue what the problem could be. Suddenly a taller white gem spoke indignantly, "Who is your friend that we have to travel so far for?"

Citrine spoke after a long silence, _"Why does it matter?"_

The tall red gem finally spoke, "Because we don't want it to be a trap."

 _"Why would we trick you guys?! You helped us come back to life!"_ Citrine said angrily through her teeth.

"Garnet, Pearl, I think we should trust them for now," Rose Quartz said, still wondering who their friend was that they wouldn't give the name of.

* * *

Azurite was wandering, trying to find where her friends were. She wanted blood, and saw a village with plenty of people walking around. Her teeth formed a smile as she sprinted into the densely populated area, leaving no one alive. Azurite's head and chest hurt, but her red eyes ignored the pain. Her hands became bloodier with each village she visited. All of a sudden, she was grabbed by a familiar feeling green gem and dragged into the time continuum straight to where she was but in the primary timeline. The figure disappeared from her blurry red sight and the gem became angrier that Jade was so close but so far away.

In the secondary timeline, Azurite was never found, but in the primary timeline, the wolves ran far from the H-Bomb, finding the Crystal Gems. They agreed to help them find Azurite, running back to their leader's location until they saw something strange. A trail of bloody villages littered the hillsides and the valleys. The seven of them were shocked at the bloodshed, but still decided to follow the trail. Citrine became nervous when she could smell her leader, _"I really think that our friend is this way, Crystal Gems."_

"Is your leader a monster?" Amethyst said boisterously, "We like to put away monsters!"

Rose Quartz frowned but listened to Blue, _"We left her in a nuclear zone because she told us to run, she has a virus that will take over if she lets her control go."_

"So she is probably unstable right now," Garnet said calmly to Rose Quartz, "Are you sure you want to go further down this bloodshed road?"

"Yes… We are going to have to if we want to save these humans," the pink leader spoke to her friends.

They continued to walk until they heard screaming from the west. The group ran as fast as they could, coming to a stop. Pearl yelled impulsively across ten feet, "In the name of Rose Quartz, stop what you are doing immediately!"

Azurite turned her head around, her eyes glinting red, _"Rose Quartz… ROSE QUARTZ,"_ her communication hurting the minds of the group.

 _"Azurite, please calm down, remember, it was Vexus that killed Jade! You don't need to kill the humans, it's not their fault, it's Vexus' fault!"_ Citrine said.

 _"Yeah right, Vexus is the only one who hasn't betrayed me and Jade yet,"_ Azurite spoke, unsure of her words, as Vexus had seemed like she was hiding something.

 _"There were footsteps in the shape of her feet, remember? She fired a long range flame thrower from where she was standing,"_ Blue said, trying to convince her leader.

Her attempts only made Azurite's anger worse. Rose Quartz was shocked that a sweet little girl like Azurite could be so malevolent, "Azurite, we can help you, just calm down."

 _"Shut your mouth Quartz, I needed you for hundreds of years and you never came!"_ barked Azurite, causing Rose Quartz to wince.

The slashes above her eye and mouth glowed now; with anger forming three more slashes over Azurite's other eye. New knowledge came flowing through her head after letting the suit take over. She held her arm out and it turned into an arrow gun, ready to fire. Garnet acted quickly lunging at her legs, knocking her over but not before she exploded a tree completely, blowing fire throughout the forest. The Crystal Gems were all over Azurite, trying to beat her down, except for Rose, who was saddened about this gem's future. She heard a subtle sound and turned around to see what it was. It was a green gem who walked slowly over to Rose Quartz and whispered, "This is what I have done, not you, Azurite is my lover but she is going to be 'was' soon. Can you take her down for her own good? Your friends can't take her out without you. She tried to kill herself before this happened which is why she can't speak. A knife is stuck in her throat, if you take it out, she will bleed until she destabilizes. You can't defeat the suit yet; give her some control. Good bye Rose Quartz."

"Wait, how are you doing…" the pink gem asked, but it was too late.

The green figure dissolved into the time continuum with a glad smile as Rose stifled tears. The pink gem shouted, "Gems back off!" and charged at Azurite with unexpected force, reaching for her neck.

Her hand found the spot where the knife was and struggled to pull it out, finally grabbing it. She tugged it out, causing Azurite to cough up small amounts, but most of it spilling out of her throat. Her hands flew to her throat as Rose dropped the crude knife to the ground. Azurite spoke, "All of you Crystal Gems will pay!"

She fought back but not as powerful, her suit was losing power slowly making her weaker as the minutes went on. Soon, the gems didn't even have to attack, but Garnet decided to finish her, landing the final punch into Azurite's shielded stomach.

"She has some serious problems doesn't she?" Garnet said cautiously, noticing that the gem refused to poof.

Azurite shocked Garnet but she quickly discharged the electricity. Her other fist rammed into Azurite's stomach and she gave in, turning into a small dark blue gem covered by a giant red triangle gem. Amethyst cheered, "Yeah! We got her!" but Garnet and Rose Quartz were in horror at the forced fusion.

The three wolves looked to the ground with their tails between their legs. Garnet bubbled the gem fusion and sent it somewhere into space. She became calm and collected within a minute, "We did what we could, we need to move on to make this gem proud."

"But Garnet, she is gone forever now, you all saw her blood," the leader spoke, tearing up, "I knew her when she was just a child, she was so sweet."

Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet all surrounded her in a group hug, trying to make their leader feel better. The wolves walked slowly away, loneliness steadily seeping through their hearts. As Rose Quartz became calm again, her friends and her walked to a small town with a beach. They went to their base where there were a bunch of bubbles with gems inside already.

"Jade stopped by, she said that she is going to be broken soon," Rose said after a long period of silence.

Amethyst blinked, "Jade? Isn't she the one who dropped off those three broken gems that you fixed?"

"Yes, she has time travelling powers," the leader replied.

The purple gem spoke again, "Then why can't she just stop her death from happening with all of her knowledge?"

"Because that would throw the future far off its path," Garnet said calmly.

"Well, Rose, your friend is at rest so we can get back to what we were doing, fighting the Homeworld gems," Pearl said, anxious to get her leader's confidence back.

Rose Quartz smiled, "Yes, let's get moving, Crystal Gems."

Her teammates whooped and went back to fighting Homeworld with all their might.


	8. Chapter 8

Two thousand years later…

A small boy was running around on a sandy beach with his friend, playing tag. He was focused on running away from her, pushing his short legs as far as they would go. The boy didn't even notice a large tree, which he crashed into, causing bright green leaves to fall around him. His friend had followed him but did not bump into the tree, coming to a halt to look up at the branches.

"Whoa Steven! This tree looks like it's a hundred years old!" she said, intrigued by the mysterious tree, she paused, "How is it surrounded by grass if this is a beach?"

"Not idea but it looks magical!" Steven replied.

He looked at the ground and saw dirt that looked as if it was freshly placed.

"Hey Connie, look at this, it looks new!" he exclaimed to his friend.

The dark haired girl knelt to get a closer look while her friend started to dig at the hole. He found a shiny broken green object, fused to the tree and looked at his friend, "Be careful, Steven," she said cautiously giving her approval.

"I think it's a gem," Steven said as he touched the object with the tips of his fingers, causing it to fall into pieces in his hands.

It glowed faintly as Steven stared into it and memories of another being began to rush through his head.

"Steven are you okay?" his friend asked as his eyes became blank.

* * *

"Whoa where is this place? Am I dreaming?" the boy wondered out loud.

He watched as a green figure appeared, looking shocked and panting.

"Where am I?" the figure asked itself.

Steven watched as it drifted around the clearing, it looked at its wrists, finding information on this area.

"Oh wow, this is from a long time ago!" she looked closer and her eyes glowed with information flowing from her wrists to her gem, "So I must set some events in place, I don't care if I am broken as long as I can protect Azurite."

Steven wondered, but was interrupted by the gem giving itself a long cape, pulling the hood over its face. It teleported to a hillside and by this point, Steven realized that these were the gem's memories. A brown haired girl covered neck to toe with a black suit with arrows knelt by a transportador, checking if it was safe, but deciding not to go in and standing up. All of a sudden, the green gem pushed the brown haired girl into the transportador, sending her somewhere meaningful. The two then teleported to a mountainous area appearing in front of the Crystal Gems. The group was shocked to see a green hooded figure and got their weapons out. Steven recognized his mom and his friends but it was hopeless to talk to them. The green gem looked to her wrists and unhooded herself, she was powerless as her energy had run out.

"Can I have some help with this? I don't have any power left…" she asked, sinking to the ground.

"Who are you?" Pearl asked aggressively, but Garnet held her back.

"My name is Jade and I am from fairly far in the future, can you help me recharge, Rose Quartz?" the green gem asked gingerly.

"How do you know her name?" Amethyst asked, bewildered.

"I have heard of her, she is fighting Homeworld daily with her team of Crystal Gems so I thought that she would be able to help me out," Jade said, trying not to look like she was begging.

"How can I help you, Jade?" asked the pink gem sympathetically.

"I heard that you have healing powers, might you be able to heal my sickness?" Jade began to plead, "It may alleviate my weight so that I can carry it through time again."

Pearl's face turned sour, "Time travel isn't real! You are just tricking Rose into wasting her tears on you!"

Garnet put her hand on Pearl's shoulder telling her to calm down. Amethyst had been quiet for a while but she decided to talk, "Calm down Pearl, we should let Rose decide, besides, if she is from the future she can tell us what happens."

Pearl scoffed at Amethyst but straightened herself up, "Garnet what do you think?"

"We should let Rose decide," the fusion answered.

Rose decided to help this strange being as she cried a tear onto Jade's gem on her chest. Instead of curing it, the red triangle grew slightly. Jade grimaced and clenched her fists in her cloak, squirming under the heat of the virus. She shook it off and looked at the surrounding gems, they were all staring at her. Steven watched Amethyst point to her chest, "Uh you got a little something there, Jade."

Jade looked down, "How come it's bigger, did I do something wrong?"

Rose shook her head, "Your virus was only aggravated by my healing powers, they won't work, but you have a bit more strength now."

"I think that this will be enough, Rose Quartz. Thank you very much," Jade smiled.

Steven watched as she attempted a leap into the time continuum, but she didn't have enough and fell to her knees. Jade was being stared down by Pearl, who looked away when she smiled at her. Several attempts were made but none took her anywhere, "You guys can keep going on your journey, I just need some practice."

"But you just did it so you shouldn't need practice," Amethyst wondered, looking to her tall red friend, "Right Garnet?"

"She doesn't have enough power," the fusion replied calmly.

Jade looked into her wrists and thought, _Oh no, I need to move to the next area and get home before six hours are up otherwise I have to stay here forever. I can't be vulnerable in front of them. One more try then I will run._

The green-cloaked gem tried another attempt, got halfway through the barrier, and fell to the ground. She picked herself up, realizing that her form was destabilizing. The Crystal Gems had been watching her try to escape, but they didn't know how to help. Jade was beginning to give in, and Steven watched as her form destabilized, leaving her gem to clatter onto the ground. Rose Quartz walked to the small gem and picked it up, she held it to her chest and cried into it, and her tears making the red triangle smaller than it was before. It now appeared as a small red dot in the bottom of her gem. The pink haired gem held the green gem to her chest as she stood up. None of her teammates said anything; they only watched her walk outside to a rock covered in moss. She placed the small gem on top of the rock, "She should heal within a few days."

Steven became worried, how was she supposed to get back to what she was doing if she can't regenerate in time? Two hours passed by then three more, and Jade formed herself once again, partially incomplete. The Crystal Gems turned around shocked of what had happened to the green gem. She had minor deformities throughout her body, but quickly summoned her cloak and draped it over her right side. Rose Quartz broke the silence, "How are you feeling, Jade?"

"I am really sorry, I didn't want to trouble you guys too much," Jade said while looking down at her feet.

"Weakness is in all of us, that is why we have a big group," Rose replied, smiling, "Are you sure you don't need more time?"

"I am sure, Rose," Jade replied, "Looks like I have to stay here forever, I only have an hour left to be away from home."

"Hold on, can you open the time rift?" Garnet asked.

"Yes I can, but I can't push myself in," Jade said sadly, "It's impossible, I will never be able to do what I am scheduled to do."

"Scheduled?" Pearl asked with sass in her voice.

"Yes, on my wrists, there is writing that tells me where to go so that I can fix things that weren't supposed to happen or make things happen," Jade explained, making Pearl grasp the concept.

"Can I see your wrists then?" Pearl almost demanded of the green gem.

"Uh sure," Jade blushed as the pale gem grabbed her left wrist and tried to read it, "I think that it's in my writing."

"Oh, well your writing isn't very neat. I can hardly read it!" Pearl spoke indignantly.

"Let me see," Garnet said as she and Amethyst got closer to take a look at Jade's wrists, "That is a lot of information, can you finish it within an hour?"

"Yeah, I think I can cram the other events in," she began to worry about the timing.

"I think if you can open the rift, we can just throw you in," Garnet suggested, trying to get back on topic.

"I don't think that's safe," Jade replied, "But it's a last resort so let's try it."

"Jade, don't push yourself," Rose Quartz said compassionately, "You can stay with us if it doesn't work."

"Thanks Rose," Jade said embracing the pink haired gem.

With all of her effort, Jade forced an opening in the time continuum. She was picked up by Garnet and chucked through the portal. The rift disappeared into the air and the gems looked to each other. Garnet smiled and said, "She is gone now, but she is coming back."

A while into the future, Steven saw a tall green gem that looked somewhat like Peridot but with gray hair down to her shoulders and a gem just below her neck. He also saw two other gems, a red and an orange one who looked malevolent. They all had blue collars. He saw Jade writing a note on a piece of paper that she had found earlier. She stuffed that note into the tall green gem's pocket. The gem didn't notice her as it was too focused on not watching the scene. Steven looked over to it and saw Jade being burnt, her gem shattering into small pieces. Jade decided to watch as the tall green gem read the note, she began to think, _Hmm I hope Vexus can read my writing, I wrote my best for her._

Steven wondered what the note had on it but was wiping tears from his eyes from watching the other Jade die. He saw emotion stir in Vexus, but she quickly shut it out. The Homeworld gems left the area while Jade picked up her pieces and ashes and flew to a huge fusion.

She spread them out on the ground as the fusion spit out the blue-eyed girl. Jade whispered a name and Steven heard that it was Azurite. Azurite stood up and her pickaxe grew to enormous size. She was whacked in the stomach, but she whacked the fusion, causing it to go into its own separate gems. The gems fused together, but Azurite threw it into the hole that she had previously dug. She recognized her lover's pieces and became overexcited, causing herself to bleed more but she shook it off. After covering the hole, she picked up Jade's pieces and cradled them, leaning on a rock. Azurite passed out in a matter of minutes.

Jade left the scene and went to the same tree that Steven and Connie were at before. She took her cloak off and saw Azurite, beginning to wave. Steven wondered why she was doing that, but began to see it. Azurite came running to the tree, watching her lover disappear into the time continuum. Later, Jade binded her broken pieces to the tree with a barrier.

The green gem began to pant as her energy was running low again. Steven became worried, and watched her pick up Azurite's gem that had been fused with a red triangle. She brushed the dirt off of it and opened the time rift again, taking the three of them to the future. The gem was dropped off near a hospital that looked exactly like Connie's mom's. She placed it carefully in the bushes and realized that she had five minutes to get home.

"Oh crud! I forgot to go tell Rose!" Jade shouted, easing herself into the rift and teleporting to the Crystal Gems as they were fighting Azurite.

However, the now red-eyed gem had a different aura than she did the last times. Steven wondered why there were two Azurite's but shrugged it off. He realized that something had happened to her but continued to watch the scene unfold. The evil Azurite was poofed into her gem and Jade teleported to a clearing. She shoved her memory into the dark recesses of her mind and teleported back home swiftly with thirty seconds to spare.

* * *

"Steven are you okay?" Pearl asked frantically shaking his shoulders.

"Yes I am, Pearl," Steven stood up shakily, "How long was I out? It felt like hours."

"You were out for thirty minutes," Garnet told him, "What do you have in your hands?"

"Oh this? This is nothing," Steven lied, Garnet knew but she didn't want to make a big deal out of it.

"Why is there a barrier here anyway," Amethyst asked, "Only a tree is here."

"I don't know but it sure is beautiful," Pearl looked up, marveling its sturdy branches.

The Crystal Gems walked out, Steven still carrying the pieces of Jade's gem. He turned around and watched the barrier fade. The branches of the tree began to wilt, leaves falling to the ground and crumbling. The trunk fell towards the gems, but it turned into dust before it touched them. Green grass surrounding the tree began to wilt, exposing raw dirt and sand while the roots disintegrated one by one. The boy was saddened by this sight.

"Oh no! Jade!" Steven cried unintentionally but quickly put his hands to his mouth.

"Jade?" Amethyst repeated pointing to the fragments, "Is that her?"

"Yes… It is," Steven said honestly.

"If that gem is a jade, then it must have had problems, usually Homeworld doesn't kick jades out. Occasionally, a whole line of them has defects, but they just get fixed by a technician," Peridot said, drawing the eyes of her listeners, "This jade looks like she had not been altered yet, but sent straight here, just look at the way her gem is shaped."

"Who is Jade, Steven?" Connie asked looking worried at her friend's slightly angered face.

"Jade had no problems with her!" Steven replied in anguish, "She was a good gem all the way to the end."

Peridot blushed as she had just hurt her friend's feelings, "Steven I am sorry, she must have been a strong gem, all I am saying is that there might be something more to this."

"It's okay, but Jade brought her friend here and we need to find her," Steven said, forgiving her transgression.

"Friend? Who would that be, Steven?" the fusion questioned, placing her hands on her hips.

"It doesn't matter, Garnet, we gotta go to Connie's mom's hospital right now!" he said hurriedly, knowing that someone was in need of help.

Garnet seemed to understand why he couldn't say the name in front of others as it might discourage them.

"Gems! Time to go to the hospital!" she said as the group ran to the hospital as fast as they could.


	9. Chapter 9

The two ran to the hospital as fast as they could, followed by the rest of their group. They got to the black top in time to watch a hooded figure descend onto the ground. It placed the gem on top of a rock and took a few steps back. The figure heard a rustle from the gems in the bushes, but thought nothing of it. It then proceeded to jump into the time continuum, no traces left behind. In its place was a beautiful bright green symbol. Steven led the cautious group to the small blue oval shaped-gem. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were shocked to see that it was a gem that they had already dealt with.

"I thought you took her out, Garnet," Pearl said, shocked, "Why is she here?"

"This is not her, this is someone else," Garnet replied calmly.

The small boy had picked up the round gem in his hands, noting the small red triangle. Jade's pieces were glistening as they reacted with Azurite's cold gem, warming it up. Peridot interrupted the silence, "Steven, put the gem on the ground."

Steven placed Azurite's gem down on the cold asphalt. Garnet scooped up the pieces of Jade's gem, "Steven I am going to bubble these, is that all right?"

"Yes," Steven nodded stoically.

A stirring occurred in Azurite's gem as it began to float into the air. Garnet readied her teammates as a feminine body appeared of the glowing gem, ending up on its feet. She shook her head and looked at the gems and humans in front of her.

"Who are you and where am I?" she asked, feeling her gem ache.

The gems were speechless as the gem collapsed onto her knees, her injuries returning. Steven was shocked to see blood trickling out of a gem's mouth. She fell onto her side and croaked, "What happened…"

"Your body was destroyed somehow, we don't know why you are bleeding, but we will let you stay here until you recover," Garnet said calmly, noticing the panic in the collapsed's eyes as she got close.

Steven started to walk over to Azurite, "Steven stop right there, she could be dangerous!" Pearl said, worried for her friend.

He continued to walk to the fallen gem as Garnet backed away. Her eyes darted away from him, as she struggled to get up. She couldn't fight it anymore and fell on her side. Steven realized he couldn't heal what he couldn't get to which were all the wounds beneath her suit. Azurite's fight was fading as she noticed how gentle his aura was. He knelt beside her and licked his hand, placing it on her eye and lips. The scars healed quickly as she closed her eyes becoming calm starting to drift into sleep.

"Rose…?" she questioned, but Steven only smiled.

Connie called her mom and Azurite was dragged into the emergency room. Steven's friend was dropped off at her house, and the gems brought Steven home.

A few days had passed since the incident, and Steven was getting anxious to see the new gem. He was worried about her recovery and had not heard from Connie for a couple days.

"Is she going to be okay?" Steven asked Garnet, but he only received a smile, "Can we go see her tomorrow?"

The fusion nodded as the sun was starting to set on the cove. Amethyst, Pearl, and Garnet decided to go back into the transportador to investigate the place they met Azurite in first. Peridot walked out to the barn to continue with the drill, bidding her friend goodnight. Steven then crawled into his bed, resting for the night.

He was awoken by light streaming through the window, touching his bed sheets. The boy ate breakfast, and waited for the gems to get back. Steven's phone rang as Connie was calling. He picked it up and listened to his friend tell him to meet her at the hospital in an hour. The gems were taking too long, so he decided to go to the hospital; it was a long walk so Steven called his pal.

"Lion!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

A pink beast came running to him and sat down on its haunches. Its mane was a long, curly organized mess, flowing down to its back. Lion snuffed at the boy and lay down, "Come on Lion, I need you to take me to Connie's mom's hospital," he pleaded.

Lion bellowed, knocking Steven up on top of his back. The beast took the boy to the hospital and got rewarded some Lion Lickers. Steven took a deep breath as his friend walked off so as not to be seen. He entered the revolving doors straight to the help desk. A nurse with dark brown hair greeted him, "Hello how may I help you today?"

"I am looking for Connie, do you know where she went?" Steven smiled.

"Oh, she is with her mother, I will send you right to her," the nurse responded whilst checking her computer, "She is in Room 34, it's ten doors to your right.

"Thanks," Steven said, starting his walk to the room.

He walked past the room, but heard Connie call out his name. Steven turned around and walked over to her.

Connie whispered in his ear, "Steven, we have to be quiet, she is still sleeping."

Steven nodded and was led to Room 54. The two walked in silently, making sure not to wake the sleeping gem. He noticed her suit was beat up, but remembered that she was in an explosion after all.

"Could anybody take off her suit?" Steven whispered to Connie.

"No, I wanted to ask you and the gems about it," she whispered back, "We did a full body X-Ray and it looks like she was partially squished, most of her bones are broken. If we can't get that black suit off, she could possibly die."

Steven walked over to where the sleeping gem lay and brushed her brown hair off of her gem. A small red triangle was revealed, releasing slight waves of heat. It had gotten bigger since the incident and Steven was wondering if it was going to get as big as the other Azurite's. The gem stirred began to stir in her sleep calling out names.

"Jade… Emerald… Citrine… Carmine… Blue…" almost like a list, "Yellow Diamond… Vexus…"

She stopped at Vexus, clenching her fist lightly and grimacing, "Murderer… Vexus is a … murderer."

"Has she woken up since a few days ago, Connie?"

"No, it's kind of like a coma, we don't know when she will wake up," Connie was dismal, "Steven she could never wake up."

"Never?" he asked quietly.

"Yes," she replied.

"Can I ask the gems to help her?" he questioned.

"Yeah, go do that and I will talk to my mom about it," Connie became more cheerful.

* * *

When the gems arrived home, Steven was sitting on the couch waiting eagerly with Peridot.

"Guys! We need to go help Azurite or she could die," he was hyper, but his friends understood him.

Pearl was unsure, but Garnet agreed that they should do something. Steven called Connie and was answered right away. His friend put her mom on the phone and Steven put Garnet on the phone.

"Hello, this is Garnet, can we come to your hospital after hours?"

"Yes, we have a patient here that is in dire need of help," the doctor responded calmly stating the facts.

"Okay bye," Garnet was quick and concise as she hung up the phone.

Peridot had heard about the type of suit Azurite was wearing before and understood that she couldn't simply phase out of it. The group headed over when they thought it was late enough. It was a long walk, but Amethyst made it feel shorter with her jokes.

"Hah hah! I could just eat her suit!" she jested, "Hey it could work, right Steven?"

Steven laughed, "Yeah it could, but it might be toxic like that burrito from your room."

"What burrito?" Peridot asked with wonder in her eyes.

"Uh I ate a four year old salmon burrito from a restaurant," she was sheepish, "It makes me sick to think about it."

The group laughed and became silent as they walked into the hospital. Steven led the way to the room, and was met by Connie and her mom. The gems followed silently into the room, Azurite was still lying in bed, her eyes closed. Connie's mom informed the group on the sleeping gem's condition. Garnet told her that Azurite was actually a gem, but she just nodded, not fully understanding the concept. The sleeping gem stirred, this time a projection appearing from her forehead.

"She sometimes has these strange projections out of her head, we don't know why but after giving her some sedative, the projections usually disappear," she was a human doctor so she didn't understand that these were normal.

The visions disappeared naturally, leaving Azurite's face peaceful. Her body heaved and she opened her eyes steadily, staring at the ceiling. Doctor Maheshwaren was both surprised and pleased. She communicated with a whisper, _"Hello Rose, I am very sorry for not being able to help you that day. I feel stronger now, maybe I can help you in some way."_

The words tickled the minds of the gems, but the humans couldn't hear it. The blue-eyed gem's pulse was getting weaker as the seconds passed. Steven held onto Azurite's hand, "I can help you, just hold on."

Her eyes were beginning to shut involuntarily. Peridot realized something had to be done right in this moment, so she disconnected the gem from the plugs and IV. The heart rate was flat as the gems rushed, trying to find a way to take the suit off. Garnet saw the future and smiled pushing Pearl, Amethyst, Connie and Steven out of the room, "Keep them busy, Pearl, this isn't for them."

The doctor coaxed Azurite off the table so that the three of them could get a better look. Peridot discovered and flipped a miniscule switch on Azurite's back, inverting the colors of the suit, making it blue with black arrows. The blue-eyed gem then tiredly phased out of her suit, leaving her in a shirt and shorts that didn't fit her. As expected, she had gashes and scars littering her once flawless body. The gem part of her should have healed these parts, but the human side of her took a while to heal. Crimson liquid was beginning to drip from unhealed gashes. Garnet looked to the doctor then to Azurite, "Do you want to stitch these up or should I cauterize them?"

"Cauterize them would you?" Azurite replied, grimacing.

Garnet's handiwork proved effective as the burns persuaded the blue-eyed gem's body to start to heal up its injuries. She was panting as the burning sensations located in random places along her body began to seep away.

"You are a brave gem," Garnet said as Azurite slowly walked over to her.

"Thanks, can I go speak to Rose now?" she asked hopeful.

Doctor Maheshwaren looked to Garnet, "You need to rest for now, your body has too many drugs in it currently."

"What are drugs?" she asked, "Is that why I feel woozy?"

"Yes it is," Garnet replied.

Azurite almost hit the ground when she collapsed, but was caught by Garnet. She looked into the red gem's smile, and felt warmth and kindness emanating from her. Her lids closed at last, as she felt calm and at peace. The blue-eyed gem was placed on the bed and reconnected to her lifeline. Peridot sighed, with all the commotion; she barely had time to breathe.

"When do you think she will wake up?" she asked.

"Probably within the next few days, she needs to rest up," the fusion replied.

Peridot nodded solemnly as she and Garnet walked out. Steven and Connie were sitting together on the bench talking while Pearl was watching Amethyst eat treats from the vending machine. The short green gem welcomed this organized chaos into her life again. It felt normal to watch others have fun, she enjoyed that, but she also wanted to join in on the fun. The group said their goodbyes to the doctor and her daughter, going to their residence. It took a short time for them to start working on the drill, unaware of danger looming over them.


	10. Chapter 10

"Vexus, I hear you have fused with two of my soldiers without their permission," a giant yellow woman spoke with a smirk.

The green gem could hardly speak, quaking fearfully in her boots. Her collar was beginning to elicit warning shocks through her body. Vexus' teammates spoke up, "Yes, my Diamond," the red gem spoke with a glint in her eyes, "She used our collars against us time after time."

"Oh really?" the ruler spoke, narrowing her eyes, "Pearl, take off the collars of Pyroite and Tanzanite."

"Y-yes my Diamond," the pearl responded, rushing to undo the collars.

"As punishment, you are going to Earth to retrieve a certain peridot," Yellow Diamond spoke, "I am sure gems as capable as yourselves can bring her back to me."

The three gems spoke simultaneously, "Yes, our Diamond."

* * *

They were flown to Earth in Vexus' ship within the next few hours. Vexus was settling the ship to the ground as the two other gems decided to jump onto the ground.

"Wait, I haven't finis-" Vexus shouted but was interrupted by Tanzanite.

"Too bad, we want to gain Yellow Diamond's respect again right away!" she shouted back up to Vexus.

The green gem shook her head, landing the ship, making large footprints in the mud. Her partners laughed at her dirty boots while shame crept through her veins. She pushed the feeling away and became robot-like again, "Let's find this traitor."

Vexus led the way as she had the tracker, trying not to pay attention to the ruffians on her team.

"Hey! This is where we broke that small gem!" Pyroite chuckled.

Tanzanite smiled, "I wonder if she suffered?"

Vexus could not let herself think about Jade's horrifying death, she just wanted to get to her blue-eyed friend. The red gem discovered that her partner was scheming and whispered to Tanzanite, making her giggle. Pyroite ripped the blue collar off of Vexus' throat, causing scorch marks where it used to be. Her hands flew to her neck in pain, "Why did you do that Pyroite!"

"Because, we need your help Vexus," the tall green gem removed her hands from her neck slowly, "We want to be respected by Yellow Diamond, don't you?"

Tanzanite nodded to support her friend's point, batting her eye, "We really need you, could you help us?"

"I guess I could, but only for a little while," Vexus cautiously replied, unsure of this mild kindness, "Let's follow this, alright?"

When they were at the top of a small hill, the Homeworld gems looked over a busy city, filled with people. A glittering blue beach faced it that created a peaceful melody with each wave. The red gem nudged Vexus off the edge of the hill, causing her to roll down the hill. She picked herself up, holding back her anger and smiling to her partners.

"The hill is presumably safe!" she called as the two gems slid down it with grace.

Vexus brushed the dirt off and the three continued to walk through the city, trying to avoid the glances of the townspeople. The group climbed over another hill, seeing a large red building. Several gems were working on a drill from Homeworld.

"There she is! Without her limb enhancers too!" Pyroite laughed, "She is so weak right now, we just have to separate her from those other gems."

The tall green gem watched as the small green gem clamored for parts, using a primitive tool to twist screws into the drill. She felt pity, but remembered that this was the gem that did nothing as she was being tortured. When it was nighttime, the gems walked back to their home, taking a small boy with them. He seemed worried, but he was still keeping his spirits up. Vexus watched the small peridot disappear from view as her partners became restless.

"Come on let's get her! We have been waiting long enough and can take those other gems," Pyroite clambered to her feet, helping Tanzanite to hers.

"I agree we should break her gem!" Tanzanite grinned evilly, her eye glaring.

"We have to bring her back whole," Vexus said nervously.

The other two gems nodded as if they were disappointed. They snuck over to the unit that the gems were occupying and waited until three of the gems disappeared into a transportador. Two beings were left, a human boy and the peridot.

"Come on, we can take the human and the gem on our own," Pyroite smirked, getting ready.

Tanzanite batted her eye to Vexus, and the tall green gem rolled her eyes, "Fine."

The three of them charged into the house, Tanzanite with her obedient daggers, Vexus with her plasma gun, and Pyroite with her flames. Silence surrounded them, the two inhabitants had skillfully hid themselves from the intruders and it wasn't like they were a quiet bunch. Tanzanite's patience was wearing thin, "Come out wherever you are, small ones."

Peridot froze in fear when she saw Vexus, a gem who was controlled by Yellow Diamond. The small boy realized that they would be found eventually and told his friend that he would protect her until the gems got back. He rolled out from under the stairs.

"I am here," he said with fierce determination, summoning his shield.

"A shield? Isn't that from the infamous Rose Quartz?" Pyroite looked to Vexus, but the tall green gem shrugged.

"Why are you here," the boy asked seriously.

"We came to take a traitor home for punishment," Vexus said robotically.

"What she said" Pyroite smiled, "Can we fight them now, Vexus?"

"You can, but I want to bring the traitor back," she responded calmly.

Within seconds the boy was subdued, daggers threatening to puncture his skin. Peridot became worried for her friend and leaped from the shadows onto Tanzanite. She scratched the orange gem's eye and her gem, causing her to drop the daggers to the ground. The small boy hit Pyroite with his pink shield making her fall to the ground. Tanzanite pushed Peridot off of her shoulders and charged at the boy with full force, daggers lightly puncturing his skin.

"Steven!" Peridot cried and glared at the enemies, "Don't you dare hurt him."

Pyroite then restrained Peridot, "That all depends on what you do."

"What I do?" the small green gem asked as Steven was being stuck lightly with more and more daggers, limiting his movement and causing his shield to dissipate.

"Yes," Tanzanite said calmly, "You have to come with us to Yellow Diamond."

Peridot became fearful and looked to her friend who was shaking his head. Her shoulders became hot as Pyroite whispered, "Come on Peri, make your decision."

"Fine I will go with you, but let him go," Peridot negotiated, making Vexus hope that her partners would accept.

"Hm, perhaps," Tanzanite spoke with glinting eyes, "Do we want extra objects to bring to Yellow Diamond, Vexus?"

Peridot looked to the tall, robot-like gem, "Whatever you think would please her."

The small green gem was overwhelmed by anger and twisted out of Pyroite's grasp, running to her friend. She ripped out all ten of the daggers from his delicate skin, his eyes fearful for her future. Peridot blinked tears out of her eyes, wrapping her arms around him and whispered, "Go to the transportador Steven, get the gems' help."

Daggers flipped into the air, spiking into Peridot's back, eliciting groans, "RUN!"

Steven got up and ran to the transportador, teleporting away as he watched his friend smile at him. He wiped the coming tears out of his eyes as his skin was healing itself over.

Meanwhile, Peridot succumbed to the power of the daggers and poofed into her gem. The tall green gem decided to do a fake out so that she could stay on Earth to find her friend, going ahead and picking up the small green gem in her detached fingers. Her teammates nodded at her ability to be cold and made the trip back to their ship.

"How come you had to place it so far away?" Pyroite asked, shoving Vexus harshly.

"Just be glad you had a ride, let's leave the Rose Quartz incarnate there, it isn't worth it," Vexus replied, rolling her eyes.

Tanzanite was picked up and brought into the ship by Pyroite, laughing while Vexus trailed behind. Everything was going to her plan, as she closed the ship's opening. She went to her chair and sat down in it, feeling slightly guilty as she heard her two partners cuddling. Vexus lifted the ship into the air, flying it back to Homeworld within the span of a few hours. The tall green gem waited until her partners got out, quickly lifting the ship into the air and turning around, holding Peridot's gem for reassurance. Pyroite and Tanzanite immediately repeated Vexus' department to Yellow Diamond. The yellow leader ordered ships to attack the ship, speedily departing to reach the Earth. Vexus set Peridot's gem in a small compartment, as she needed both hands in order to make it out of this situation. She shot most of the Homeworld ships, sustaining minimum blows, getting closer to Earth with each wave of ships. The pale blue dot began to appear within her vision and Vexus sped her ship to maximum speed, the dot becoming bigger and bigger. She was star struck, as she had never seen the Earth like this before. Her ship became pelted by shots from at least twelve Homeworld ships.

"Better mess them up," Vexus said to herself, starting to smile.

She knew her ship was about to fail, but charged into the other ships, pulverizing them with her blasters. After the waves were defeated, Vexus saw the green lands on Earth, desperately wanting to go there. The green gem realized that she needed to stop the ships from coming for her so she quickly inputted several thousand coordinates throughout the galaxy and sent them to the other ships to look for her. They were titled with Yellow Diamond's signature opening so other gems were sure assume it was her sending them the coordinates. Vexus took a deep breath; she sensed her ship could explode upon impact as its landing gear was destroyed.

The green gem grabbed Peridot's gem out of the compartment, and set the ship's course for Earth. She held the gem in a protective position, watching as the Earth got closer and closer. Minutes later, the ship began to burst in flames, tumbling downwards, knocking the green gem around and finally smashing into the ground. Vexus' bruised form landed on the ground and poofed into her gem, her limb enhancers clattering to the ground. Her gem ended up facing Peridot's. The ship was completely destroyed; some battered parts still fuming with smoke.

* * *

A few hours later, Peridot began to form herself out of her gem. She was surprised to see a gem like hers lying on the ground. Her foot touched it lightly, it didn't move, it just rolled over to reveal a small crack. Peridot looked around her at the parts of the ship that had been destroyed and wondered what went on when she was in her gem. She noticed the limb enhancers and was tempted to put them on, but relished the feeling of walking on grass and dirt too much. The small green gem then carried the limb enhancers up a large hill, threw them over the cliff, listening for the thud at the bottom.

"Better safe than sorry," Peridot said not completely trusting the dormant gem.

She looked south and saw a coastline in the distance. The small green gem decided to go there, beginning to trudge down the hill. Peridot walked past the slightly battered gem, guiltily stopping in her tracks. She picked it up in her hand, continuing her pace. After a couple hours of walking, she sat down on a rock wiping her brow and studying the single crack on Vexus' gem.

"This was a gem that needed help, and I never helped her," Peridot talked to herself, not minding being alone, but also not favoring it either, "I wonder if Steven is looking for me."

Peridot continued to walk towards the coastline, following signs that pointed to Beach City, holding Vexus' gem. At last, she came out of her gem, unaware of where she was. Vexus looked around her and saw Peridot looking at her with a stick in her hand, "Uh are you okay?"

"Yes I am, Vexus," Peridot replied, rolling the name off her tongue with slight distaste, hiding the stick she had pulled out for defense.

"Where are my ship and limb enhancers?" Vexus asked searching for the objects in question, wondering what these limbs were doing naked.

"Were they my problem in the first place?" Peridot questioned, staring at the slight crack in Vexus' gem.

"Oh well, do you know where we are?" Vexus asked.

"Shouldn't you? You are the one who landed your ship here," Peridot was snappy, unsure of whether or not to trust this gem.

"I guess I should know, but I don't," Vexus looked to the ground desiring friendship.

"Well I have to go to my friends in Beach City," Peridot spoke calmly walking away.

"Wait," Vexus halted the shorter green gem, "Can I go with you?"

"I guess you can stay if you promise not to attack anyone," Peridot responded, liking the idea of a companion.

"Thanks Peridot," Vexus spoke, glitching out, but managing to stay whole not noticing the slight change.

She shook her head and the shorter green gem began to lead the way to Beach City. Peridot took a look at Vexus and even without her limb enhancers; the green gem was still slightly taller than Peridot. She had learned that gems come in different shapes and sizes, so it didn't bother her much. Peridot looked at the green gem's hair, it was gray, an odd color for a peridot's hair. She remembered this name from a bulletin board; it signified a long line of defects. Vexus looked at her, and she quickly looked away. The taller green gem wondered if she had done something but couldn't find it out. After a dozen miles of walking, Peridot's curiosity broke the silence as she sat down on a nearby rock, "How come your gem is on your chest and not your head?"

"Oh," Vexus acknowledged her, looking abashed and playing with her badge, "It's my defect, it turns my hair gray. The only reason I was kept was because I have a high intelligence level. My line was renamed Vexus by Yellow Diamond, not a very pretty name. How about you, how come you were kept when you have such strong emotions?"

"I didn't used to have these emotions, the friends I made here changed me completely in that regard," Peridot looked thoughtful, wanting the company of the Crystal Gems again.

"Why are there so many pieces of lumber with leaves attached? How come there are these little bright colored smelly things?" Vexus' curiosity got the better of her, "Also, how did I get these non-artificial limbs, they feel weird…"

"When you poofed, you lost your form which was attached to your limb enhancers. I kind of threw them off a cliff, but that doesn't matter!" Peridot struggled to assemble the answers to the taller gem's questions, reaching down to pick a scented piece of nature, "The smelly things are flowers."

"Are they weapons?" Vexus questioned.

Peridot put one in Vexus' hair, surprising her, "You tell me, I had to find out the hard way how valuable life is. We are surrounded by trees which produce the oxygen you are breathing right now."

"Oh," Vexus said, enjoying the pleasant conversation, "Then what's that?"

The taller green gem pointed off into the distance, Peridot trying to comprehend what it could be. A strange green animal came running up the hill. Peridot became worried, "Vexus we had better run."

"Why?" she responded.

"Just do it!" the smaller green gem shouted.

Peridot and Vexus climbed up a large rock and looked down, the green beast struggling to leap up to the two. It had a large red triangle looming on its forehead, its movements rushed and hasty.

" _MY NAME IS EMERALD FEAR MY EVERY BREATH_ ," the creature communicated wildly, damaging the minds of its listeners.

Vexus threw a rock onto its head, but it had little effect. The beast started to climb up the rock, "Oh I know this creature, it's a wolf!"

"Uh, what do you know about wolves?" Peridot asked questioning her temporary teammate's intelligence.

"Wolves are very dangerous animals, this one looks like it may have been a gem that went estranged," Vexus paused, "If we can get to it, then we can probably make it retreat into its gem!"

Peridot was astounded, but decided to put her faith in the taller gem as she climbed near the wolf. All of a sudden the beast jumped off the rock and sprinted away. Vexus climbed back up to Peridot, her braveness shocking her.

"Well then," she managed to say.

The two decided to move on, finding a randomly placed Kindergarten. They hiked down into it to check it out, for some odd reason, the ground seemed to sparkle. Vexus kneeled, realizing that it was covered with gem shards. Her and Peridot were shocked, but decided to keep going. A wall was carved with the names of some gems, but Vexus only paid attention to one, Azurite. She looked down at the gem shards, a single tear falling to the ground.

"My friend is broken…" she croaked after a long silence, acknowledging the disabled tracker labeled _AZ_.

"Oh," Peridot replied, slightly concerned.

Vexus glitched once again for a short moment, but it was enough to encourage her to speak up.

"Peridot, can you give me mercy, my gem is already cracked," Vexus pleaded, leaning against the rock wall, her yellow badge gleaming.

"I am so sorry, but I can't do that," Peridot frowned.

Vexus fell to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. Peridot had never been in this situation before with another gem, but knelt to the ground. She placed her arms around Vexus and held her tight, halting the heaving. _Let's get home soon,_ she thought, _Vexus needs to be healed._


	11. Chapter 11

Azurite opened her eyes to a dark world; one filled with lost friends and loved ones. She explored the crevices looking for hope somewhere. At last she found a familiar green figure, its presence welcoming. It called out to her and she ran to it, wrapping her arms around the cloaked body.

"Jade I missed you so much! How are you?"

There was no response, but Jade smiled while her eyes gleamed with happiness. Jade took Azurite's hand and led her down a pathway through the dark; it lit up with each step she took.

"Azurite, I have to go, but I am leading you here to live your life. I will always love you. Be free now," Jade was compassionate as she began to demolecularize.

The blue-eyed gem's tears rolled down her eyes and dripped into a pool, which reflected her face. It was worn and tired, she had so many regrets that she had not felt anything good in life for a long time. Jade finally disappeared leaving Azurite alone in a field of flowers.

Her tears stopped flowing as she walked through past memories. She saw her lupine friends playing with her, Jade leaning against her on the rock, and the two kissing. The moments with Emerald at the riverside, the fusions they shared. When she met Yellow Diamond and would not bow down to her. Azurite watched bad memories and good memories appear, till the ones of Vexus resurfaced. It hurt her to watch Vexus and her hugging the gem. She viewed the facial expressions, first distrust, and then more trust began to flow through them. Azurite wanted to see this gem, but she knew she couldn't as Vexus had killed Jade heartlessly. The blue-eyed gem breathed as the memories went to Rose. The two had so many great memories together, but they began to darken as Azurite was traversing backwards. Her memories of her father flowed through her, she then saw her mother, a tall blue gem with dark blue hair down to her ankles. The light blue gem, waved to her, "We will meet again, my daughter, keep going."

The blue-eyed gem started to tear up, but was interrupted by the sound of a heartbeat. She ran towards it and saw herself lying in a white bed attached to many plugs. Azurite touched her arm and felt herself being absorbed into her body.

* * *

Azurite moaned as she came to, light streaming into her eyes from the window. She remembered how Rose healed her eye and mouth but for some reason with her spit. The blue-eyed gem recognized her outfit was from when she was seven, as it didn't fit her at all. The shirt was tight and dirty so she decided to tear the sleeves off, but she was thankful her shorts used to be baggy as they were tight but not bad. She hadn't remembered seeing this much skin on her body since she was younger. Azurite got up shakily and wandered around the room, pulling her plugs out. She bumped right into the door, not fully comprehending the concept of one. The blue-eyed gem managed to push it open and walk through it, feeling fearful when she got outside the room. Men and women wearing blue baggy outfits were visiting other people's rooms. They didn't seem to notice Azurite slinking around, so she had an easy time getting out the front doors.

Her hair had grown over her gem, so people couldn't tell she was of that race at all. Azurite loved being without her suit, but she disliked the discomfort of her old tight clothes. The blue-eyed gem wandered around through a large black road with strange vehicles traveling on it. She walked to a beach that looked familiar except that it had shops and houses around it. The blue-eyed gem smelled something delicious, but didn't know where it was coming from so she followed her nose. She came to a medium sized store where a boy with orange hair was munching on a yellow triangle shaped object. Azurite stared at him as he was eating with a girlfriend. The girlfriend looked at the blue-eyed gem who immediately shifted her eyes away. She beckoned her to the table with her fingers. The blue-eyed gem walked over slowly and stood in front of it wincing, expecting an attack. However, when she opened her eyes, the blond-haired girl only gave her a slice of pizza, smiling. The orange-haired boy smiled at her too, "Hi my name is Lars and she is Sadie."

Sadie waved as Azurite tried to speak, "He-hello there, thank you for this food, human girl."

"You can call me Sadie, it's all right," the blond said, standing up to pull a chair over to the table.

Azurite had no idea how to eat the triangle shaped object, but she sat down and took a bite. She yelped at the burning taste, placing the slice on the table. The blue-eyed gem viewed the humans, they were giggling. Sadie smiled and said, "You need to blow on it first."

She looked at the blond and blew on her slice, taking a bite. With the first bite, she realized that she was very hungry and ate the entirety of the slice. Lars and Sadie chuckled, "Do you have anywhere to stay?"

"I wanted to go stay with Rose, but I can't find her. By the way this food is delicious," Lars looked to Sadie.

"You don't need to tell us it's good, we already know," said the orange-haired boy, eliciting a grin from his girlfriend.

"You have a very nice girlfriend also, Lars," Azurite said awkwardly watching the two's facial expressions.

"Uh… we aren't dating," Sadie said.

The couple was blushing and Azurite could tell there was something going on with them. She was inquisitive by nature, but decided she should go on wandering.

"Thank you for the food, I will see you around," before the two could speak, the strange being had left.

Lars and Sadie shrugged and went back to their work place, discussing some things that were inaudible. All of a sudden the Crystal Gems walked past them with Steven, looking for where Peridot's kidnapper would be. A loud boom was heard in the distance and the group rushed towards its direction. Steven didn't even take the time to say good-bye to Sade and Lars.

When the group was gone, Azurite returned to a shop with a huge circular structure on its top, discovering that her acquaintances worked there. She walked in, bumping into the door and managing to find a chair. Sadie smiled, "Back again, are you?"

"Yeah, I think I went in a big circle and arrived where you are residing," the blue-eyed gem stood up and walked to the counter in front of Sadie.

"Oh we don't live here, we actually have houses," Lars said partially snarky.

Sadie bumped his arm making him yelp, and Azurite giggled slightly. She felt weak on the inside, but didn't want to bring it up. Her shirt didn't cover some of the cauterizing scars, but the two hadn't paid much attention as she held her arms in front of her stomach. Lars was the first to notice them, and nudged Sadie who asked the girl if she would come to her house after they closed the shop. Azurite nodded realizing that her hands were not in front of her scars. She rushed them to cover the scars and waited the rest of the day. People walked in and out until the end of the day. The blue-eyed gem stretched and followed Sadie to her house after saying good-bye to Lars. Sadie led her into a modest home.

"You can stay here in my room as long as you like," Sadie smiled, she looked at the stranger's clothing, "Do you want to wear some of my clothes?"

Azurite replied nervously, "I don't need new clothes right now, but thank you for the offer."

Sadie nodded, but a woman who looked older, but similar to her burst into the room. Her eyes were stars, "Oh my gosh! I have another daughter now!"

The shorter blond girl face palmed, "I met her at the pizza place, mom."

"Well what is her name?"

Azurite watched as the conversation intensified, "My name is Azurite, am I allowed to stay with your daughter?"

Sadie's mom nodded slowly, "Do you want to wear some of Sadie's clothes?"

The blond face palmed once again and Azurite giggled, "Thanks for the offer, but I already have clothes on."

Sadie's face became worried, after looking at Azurite's stomach she had ceased to cover, "Where did you get those wounds from?"

"Oh I was…in an accident," she replied, "They are all cauterized and are pretty much healed."

Sadie shoved her mom outside of her room and slammed the door, "Azurite, could you roll up your shirt a little?"

Azurite was baffled by the question, but this human was all that she had at the moment. The shirt was tight, but she managed to lift it up until her ribs were showing. A large sealed gash that looked like a mountain range lined from her stomach to the top of her chest. Her blue eyes opened wide as she saw this line, it seemed seared on her chest. She guessed that Garnet had seared it shut but it was obvious she had left it alone as it had manual-like sears as opposed to handmade sears.

"Hey Azurite? It says something on your scar…" Sadie squinted at the words, "Oh it says: Alternate's condition is Intact. Current condition is Intact."

The blue-eyed gem scrutinized these words, "What is the Alternate?"

Sadie frowned, furling her brows, "I think it is another person, a heartbeat is being displayed."

"That sounds strange, can we find them?" Azurite wondered out loud.

A blue compass came out of her gem as soon as she finished her words. The blond looked around her for where the object came from, but could not find it. She had still not noticed that a gem was standing before her so she was baffled. Azurite rolled her shirt down over the older sears.

"You know what, I think we should follow this compass. Maybe this person is attached to me," Azurite spoke calmly as Sadie nodded, desiring an adventure.

"Okay, but if we don't find them, then let me get you some new clothes. Also, it's really late so let's get to bed," the blond giggled.

Azurite agreed and soon enough, she was asleep on the floor. The compass disappeared subtly when it noticed it wasn't being used.

* * *

In the morning, created a compass and the two travelled to Steven's house. The gems were still not there as they went on a journey, but Azurite insisted on getting inside.

"I don't think we should go inside, Steven isn't home," Sadie said reluctantly.

However, the blue-eyed gem opened the door and ran in to another strange circular thing, only finding a door with five gems on it. The compass consistently pointed towards the door, but Azurite could not open it.

Sadie's concern grew, "Hey Azurite? Are you from around here?"

The blue-eyed gem turned to her, the compass disappearing, "I was born on Earth, but I went elsewhere for a while. There isn't much else to say."

Sadie looked at her with disbelief, but she decided to take her home. On the way, Azurite recognized the place where she buried Jade. She ran to where it once was, but found nothing, the tree was not there, but instead, only a small seed remained. The blue-eyed gem knelt on the soft sand cupping the seed in her hands. Tears rolled down her face as she shuddered subtly. The blond could only watch as this otherworldly person broke down. Her wounds stung with every heave she took, so she halted them.

"Hey Azurite, I think we can plant the seed somewhere with soil," Sadie spoke calmly, placing her hand on the blue-eyed gem's shoulder, "You need to rest, I can tell that your wounds are hurting you."

The gem could not hear her words though as her eyes glowed red as she stood up off of her knees. The triangle grew four times in size, causing a giant red triangle to appear over her head. She steadily croaked the words, "Jade, I will avenge you, Vexus may be killed."

Sadie became worried as the blue gem that was previously there had become red. She began to feel the heat emanating from the red-eyed gem, and bravely wrapped her arms around the gem. Azurite fought for a minute, but calmed down and fell to her knew, returning the embrace. The blond stroked her ratty hair as she sobbed, "Sadie I am not human… I am a monster…"

But Sadie only held her tighter, "You aren't a monster, you are my friend."

Azurite became calm, feeling the warmth of her new friend. She proceeded to tell her story, starting from the beginning. The two walked to the blonde's house, holding hands. A glimmering hope lightened the seed as it was carefully held in Azurite's fingers. The blond pointed to a hillside filled with fresh grass and led her friend to it. They dug a hole and placed the seed into it, covering it gently. Azurite imagined a glass of water, as she knew that seeds needed sustenance. The blond caught the tumbling glass and gave it to the blue-eyed gem. She poured it on the fresh dirt, and started to sing.

"How far are you? Do you remember me? I give my love to you, now rest in peace," Azurite had permanently let her lover go.

The two walked to the blonde's house and Sadie invited the blue-eyed gem into her bed. They slept together, Azurite finally at peace.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N Thank you guys so much for reading! This chapter is based solely on Emerald and Jewel!**

A strange beast lurked in the shadows, growling quietly. It was lupine in structure and green in color. A red triangle shone over its head, the gem on its neck plagued with a similar shape. The sunlight burned its skin so it only came out at night to search for an invisible object. It started to dig at a strange rock until it exposed a silver oval shaped gem. The beast was about to crunch it until it formed into a slender pure white girl with blue hair. It was taller than the girl; its neck at her eye level. The beast lowered its head to get a better look at this being. The girl stared into the creature's astounded eyes and placed her small hands on its neck, healing it of the red triangle until it became a small red dot. The creature became docile, losing her horns and mutations. She licked the gem's chin, and bowed to her in thanks.

"Hi, my name is Jewel, what is yours?" she asked compassionately petting the now puppy-like beast.

" _My name is Emerald, thank you for curing me,"_ the wolf communicated in a grateful voice while staring at Jewel's shirt, _"Your stars, they remind me of the Heavens."_

"Oh it was no big deal, thanks for freeing me," Jewel smiled pleasantly.

Emerald thought she was the cutest thing; she wore a long sleeved shirt on that had many stars that draped from her shoulder to her wrist. She had hair similar to Pearl's and a long skirt. A cute silver bow was wrapped around her waist. Jewel had striped leggings that were dark blue and silver. Her blue eyes were gentle and caring, causing Emerald to feel bothered thinking about disturbing their beauty. The wolf lay down on the ground in front of Jewel and brushed her giant furry head against the white gem. She stroked the wolf's dark green ears.

"So do you want to go with me to find my friends?" Jewel asked, trying to spark conversation.

" _Sure, hop on and I will track her with my sense of smell,"_ Emerald replied, pleased with her new friend.

Jewel climbed up the wolf and she stood up. The two continued to look around for Beach City, tracking the smell of home.

"So, how come you are a wolf?" Jewel asked politely.

" _I got trapped in this form and don't know how to get out of it. I used to like it, but it is getting kind of old,"_ Emerald communicated making a small whine.

"You have another form then… Maybe the Crystal Gems can help you…" Jewel smiled, sleepily lying down on Emerald's furry back.

She soon fell asleep, but Emerald continued to sniff the ground, looking for clues. The wolf took a whiff and trotted around the dense forest. Sunlight began to creep into the valley, but it no longer affected Emerald as she ventured out of the shadows. Jewel eventually woke up. Her arms and legs stretched as she yawned. The silvery gem rolled onto her side, stroking Emerald's soft green fur. She kept walking around until she found a small pool of water that strangely allured her to it. Her tongue lapped at the water as she remembered where the pool was.

" _This is where a friend and I spent a lot of time together,"_ Emerald telepathically communicated, _"It's all dried up for some reason."_

Jewel had hopped off and walked over to where several rocks were piled. She crouched, picking at the rocks with her delicate fingers, "I think it's blocked. See? Look at this, there is a small trickle."

" _Okay, let me put my paw on it,"_ Emerald communicated, slamming her heavy paw on the rocks.

The rocks fell away, but only a slightly bigger trickle started to flow. Emerald looked to Jewel and the two decided to head up the riverbed. It had trace amounts of liquid slowly flowing under the dry rocks. The two walked together until they reached a giant structure that was taking water from the spring. Jewel pulled a sword out of the gem on her chest, making Emerald surprised.

" _Wait a second, you can use your gem powers to summon weapons?"_ she was confused at this gem's ability.

"Well, yes. I am a Pearl so I come with a sword," Jewel smiled, "pearls aren't just for show."

" _So, you can use that weapon?"_ Emerald was still confounded.

"Yeah, watch me slice this."

She sliced the pipeline as water rushed through, filling the stream with pure water. The pond was soon its normal depth, yet there was a bit of a rush in so a stream of water had spilled out, pushing plants, mud, and rocks downhill. Jewel and Emerald shrugged it off and the two continued their journey.

They eventually found the labor camp, and Emerald sniffed around, searching for a familiar smell. Her nose eventually touched a cold surface. She lifted her head to see that the ground was covered in millions of small gem shards. Emerald walked to over to a familiar steep wall and found that several thousand names were scratched onto it. Some of them she recognized while others seemed foreign. The silvery gem had never seen so many fallen gems in her lifetime and fell to her knees. Noticing her distress, Emerald trotted to her and nudged her shoulder. Jewel stroked Emerald's fuzzy chin and the wolf licked her friend's cheek.

" _It looks smaller than it used to, some of these gems were my comrades,"_ she paused, _"But some of them I don't recognize. Don't feel bad, you didn't cause any of this."_

Jewel looked up to Emerald, "How were your friends killed?"

" _They… were murdered by Homeworld gems that were thirsty for our blood. Only a few others and I survived, but we are separated now,"_ Emerald communicated, _"I really miss my friends."_

"I am sorry to hear that," Jewel said.

All of a sudden, a huge gem-powered truck rolled over into the area. The two darted into a bushy area and watched. It folded out a cylinder and placed it on the ground. It used this to roll over the gem shards, crushing them into a powder-like substance. Emerald wanted to lunge, but Jewel held her back. The truck continued to crush the gem shards until it turned the cylinder into a hollow scooper. It collected the powdery shards and drove away. There were no longer any gem shards in the area, only dry dirt. A familiar smell drifted to Emerald's nose and she walked over to it, it was an almost fully degraded blanket. Jewel watched as Emerald sniffed it thoroughly. The moon was coming up over the hillside, the green wolf becoming tired as she recognized the familiar smell.

"Do you want to sleep?" Jewel asked Emerald, who was already drifting off to sleep, "I guess so."

Jewel smiled as she gently took the blanket from Emerald's paws. She placed it on her giant friend's back, managing to cover a small part of it. The silvery gem leaned on the wolf's side, quickly falling asleep.

* * *

"Please don't kill us, Emerald! You aren't feeling well right now, but we can help you!" Citrine called out.

But the beast proceeded to lunge into Carmine, tearing her form apart. The other two small gems could only watch. Eventually she lost her humanoid form and went into her gem. The beast picked up the red gem into its mouth and crushed it while watching the terror in the other gems' faces as the shards fell to the ground. Blue could only weep as she watched her friend get slain. Citrine ran at the beast with a sharp stick, stabbing it into its leg, eliciting pain. It growled and stepped on the small orange gem, poofing her instantly. It crushed the gem with her claws, savoring the feeling of death. Blue didn't struggle; she was in shock from her friends. The beast sliced her in half and broke the gem on a rock. It was all over in an instant.

The beast had finally realized what happened. It dissipated the red triangle from above its head. Tears fell from its eyes, but anger still coursed through it. The triangle had reappeared over its head from lack of control. It continued on a rampage, uncontrollable.

* * *

The sunlight began to warm the two gems awake. Jewel stood up and stretched while Emerald dug a hole for the blanket.

 _"This was the blanket that all of us used to shar_ e," she said, covering the hole with dirt, _"I murdered three of them…"_

"It wasn't your fault, it was your curses'," Jewel tried to reason with the big green wolf but she wasn't getting anywhere.

 _"I should have never fused with her… She gave it to all of us,"_ Emerald was bitter, _"This virus is transmittable by fusion. I used to be able to heal like you, but now I can't."_

"Is there a cure for it?" Jewel asked delicately.

 _"I have no idea what it could be,"_ Emerald responded.

"Well we could look for one," Jewel said with a smile.

 _"I guess we could, but I am not sure there is one."_

The two continued their journey, exploring until they found Beach City at last. Jewel started to run and Emerald followed her. They went to a house on the beachside and opened the door. Emerald couldn't fit so she sat down and waited for her friend. The silvery gem called for her friends, but they weren't home. When Jewel came back out, Emerald stood up and saw her exasperated face.

"My team is gone," she said, "They will probably come home soon. Would you like to see a spectacular view?"

 _"Sure, if you would like to. Hop on,"_ Emerald smiled.

Jewel climbed up on top of her friend's back and the two wandered off, looking for the hill. They found the basin of it and decided to head up. The silvery gem had completely forgotten about any problems here. Emerald and her continued to walk up the hill, but were surrounded by growing moss.

"Oh no! Not this stuff again!" Jewel shouted, "Come on Emerald, run really fast and we will make it!"

Emerald heeded her advice and sprinted up the hill, the moss following close behind. The sun was beginning to set on the beach as the wolf raced up the hill. They finally reached the top, the moss crawling up their legs. The last bit of sunlight made the dark green moss form flowers. Jewel hopped off and danced in the pink flowers that spun around gently. Her and the flowers left Emerald in awe, and when Jewel stopped dancing, the wolf could only stare. Stars started to twinkle as the sun disappeared beneath the sea. The two enjoyed the view as Jewel leaned against Emerald, who had no clue how to react. She wished she could dance, but she did not desire to give Jewel her virus.

The wind tickled Emerald's fur, _"You are beautiful, Jewel."_

"Thank you," she responded; walking to face Emerald, "Can you lower your head?"

Emerald did so, and Jewel wrapped her arms around her, kissing her big nose. The wolf was surprised; no one had ever shown her this kind of affection before. She felt herself getting smaller. The silvery pearl had opened her eyes to the sight of a humanoid form. It had blond hair, bright green eyes, and a light green gem on her neck. Her shirt was brown and green while her pants were dark grey. Jewel was astounded by her attractiveness. Emerald on the other hand, was freaked out, but got used to the feeling of being small. She was slightly shorter than Jewel now. Her laughing friend tackled the green gem onto the ground. Jewel had then noticed a small red dot in the oddly shaped gem, but pushed the thought away. She kissed Emerald's cheeks several times in happiness. Emerald kissed her on the lips and the two fell asleep together, holding hands.

In the morning, they stretched and watched the sunrise, Jewel leaning against Emerald. The two had formed an unbreakable bond a relationship that would survive.

 _"I love you, Jewel,"_ Emerald communicated in a whisper.

"I love you too," Jewel replied with a sweet smile.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews! I appreciate them all. Thanks for staying with me!**

Peridot helped Vexus up, "Are you going to be okay?"

Vexus nodded, "Yeah, I will be soon."

The smaller green gem picked up the collar and brushed off the dust, handing it to the taller green gem. She wiped the tears out of her eyes and felt the strange coldness to it. It was less sophisticated than the one she used to wear, but this object meant a lot to her. Vexus held it to her gem as if it was her friend. Peridot had a sudden idea and gently took it from the taller green gem. She fiddled with it for several minutes as Vexus watched from behind. At last, the collar had been transformed into a dog tag-like necklace made of wire. It read: _AZ._

Peridot placed it around Vexus' neck, "How is that?"

The taller green gem smiled, "It's great, thank you Peridot."

She smiled a toothy grin and the two decided to walk out of the mini Kindergarten, feeling warm sunlight on their skin. Vexus was thankful for Peridot being there for her. As soon as they got out, a loud rumbling sound echoed through the valley. Peridot spun around and stared at flowing water, frozen with fear. Vexus shoved Peridot out of the way but had no chance to rescue herself from getting sucked into the debris-filled water. It speedily travelled down the hill, not partaking in any care as to where it went.

"Vexus!" Peridot's shouts were useless, but she still tried to look for her.

The green gem thought quickly and fought to shake off her shock. She hurriedly ran after the path where the water had destroyed the bushes and plants.

* * *

"We have to find Peridot, she could be seriously hurt!" Steven said abruptly to the baffled gems.

He had informed the Crystal Gems about the events that had involved the green gem's capture. Instantly, they became furious at the thought of losing their dear member. Steven's fist clenched in anger that he couldn't protect Peridot and that the tall green gem just watched. He desired revenge for his friend. All of a sudden, the group heard a loud boom as something entered the Earth's atmosphere.

"Those cocky gems, why are they coming back now?" Garnet said, slightly perturbed.

The Crystal Gems began to run towards it, led by Garnet. When they arrived at a dense forest, a loud stream of water pushed down a mid sized green gem. As the water trickled into the ground, the confounded gem struggled to stand itself up. Within an instant, the gems had surrounded it with their weapons out. Its eyes were darting around, until they landed on a small boy holding a shield. _He looks familiar_ , she thought to herself.

He spoke, "Where did you take Peridot? We know you have her!"

She was frightened by his yelling, but was unable to speak, only able move her mouth. The gems were angered as the silence lasted and lunged at her with full force.

"Please… Didn't do any wrong," she croaked, but her broken words fell upon deaf ears.

The green gem made an effort to leap out of the circle she was in. Clumsily landing on her feet, she made a run for it but was followed close behind by the Crystal Gems. She was fearful and regretted the pain that she made the boy feel before. The gem was small enough to crawl into a cave, away from the Crystal Gems.

"Guys, please stay behind, I want to deal with her myself," Steven said calmly, but with slight irritation in his voice.

The gems nodded and withdrew their weapons, standing watch while Steven crawled into the cave. He was smaller than the green gem so it was easier for him to maneuver around the rocks. Eventually there was nowhere left to run so the green gem crawled into a clearing in the cave and curled up into a ball. She didn't watch as the boy stood in front of her and could only croak, "Didn't do wrong Peridot sorry."

He couldn't comprehend her words but noticed her gem had a large crack in it. Steven stared at this weak and helpless gem, feeling slight sympathy. He watched her right arm become useless and knew that she had only a few ways to protect herself. She held onto her necklace with her fragile fingers and came up with a fragmented plan. The green gem winced as the boy made his shield dissipate into the air. He knelt to her level and she struggled to sit up, unable to do so. As a last ditch effort, she pushed the boy over and started to crawl out of the cave.

All of a sudden, her foot was grabbed by the boy, "Hey! Stop, my friends will hurt you!"

The green gem was unable to consider the reason behind his words so she shook off his hand and kept crawling. Eventually, she got out of the cave and into the sunlight, startling the gems. They stood up at the same time, readying their weapons for battle.

"What did you do to Steven?" the tall red gem asked furiously.

The green gem spoke, "The boy is safe but you are not!"

She was unaware of her words, but put up her left fist and speedily punched it into Amethyst's face. It left a bruise, angering her and the gems. Garnet took a swipe at the small green gem, but she ducked underneath her fist and kicked her side. The red gem was unfazed, but Pearl was not. She swiped her sword at the green gem, but it turned to its side to avoid the left arm from getting damaged. Pearl severed its right arm by the shoulder but it didn't feel the pain. The green gem kicked her sword away and turned around only to get grabbed by Amethyst's whip. She fell to the ground, struggling to get out of the binding whip. At last, the green gem glitched just enough to escape her bounds. She picked up the whip and threw it over her shoulder. Garnet took another swipe, but this one landed in her open wound area, causing her to jolt with pain. She staggered, but fell to her knees. Amethyst wrapped her newly summoned whip around the gem's throat, slightly choking her.

"Where is Peridot? Why would you hurt her and Steven?" Amethyst was holding back a yell as she tightened her grip.

Garnet and Pearl watched, but they didn't say anything. The short purple gem started to make the whip have spikes.

"Is this what you did to her?! Torture her? Well that is what you are getting until you tell us where she is," Amethyst was angered and didn't notice she was getting out of control.

After minutes of no response, Steven poked his head out of the cave and Peridot ran out of the forest. In the seconds they showed up, Amethyst pulled so hard she severed the green gem's head from her body. She went limp and poofed into her gem, her necklace clattering to the ground. The purple gem went into shock, it wasn't her first time doing this, but the gem was so weak and didn't bother fighting. Peridot and Steven ran from their places to the cracked gem.

"Vexus…" Peridot croaked, placing her hands on the gem.

"Peridot, you are here, why, what?" Amethyst said in disbelief.

"Yes I am here," the small green gem was frustrated with her friend's behavior, "Why did you have to do that to her, her gem was already cracked."

The green gem's crack branched out from the left side to the center and split into fragments from there. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were silent as they watched their friend grieve.

Peridot held it to her chest, "She was a good gem all the way to her core."

"I can heal her," Steven said hopefully.

"If she was really innocent, why would she turn against Steven who offered her help?" Pearl asked suddenly.

"She must have not been thinking straight, Pearl," Garnet spoke calmly, "Her gem is cracked and it was a decision she had to make."

The short green gem nodded solemnly, her small green fingers stroking the gem. She stood up and stared at Amethyst, who looked away from her instantly. Steven politely asked Peridot for the gem and she gave it gently to him. He licked his hand and placed it on the gem, healing the crack steadily. The boy passed it over to Peridot and she held the newly whole gem in her hands. It glimmered with hope in the sunlight.

"Amethyst, it isn't your fault, you were only worried about me," Peridot said quietly, attempting to make eye contact.

"It is my fault, I almost destroyed her," Amethyst was bitter, "I saw the look in her eyes, begging me not to do it, but I did it…"

"Vexus attacked you first. I don't blame you for what you did, but she will for sure blame you when she comes back," Peridot was sympathetic as she wished that people would have had sympathy for her mistakes.

Amethyst had become silent and Peridot had no idea how to make her feel better. The incident just got to her head; it wasn't anyone's fault except for Vexus' teammates.

"Let's go home, Crystal Gems," Garnet said calmly, the group following in her footsteps, Peridot picking up the necklace.

When they got to Steven's house, the group was tired and decided to rest. Amethyst had become more of herself on the walk home from talking to Peridot. The green gem's forgiveness had healed her feelings. Peridot set Vexus' gem on Steven's windowsill next to the necklace and hung out with the boy for a while. The sun had set on the beach at last; the only thing disturbing was a phone call.

Steven ran to answer it, "Hello Connie what's up?"

"Steven, Azurite is gone. Have you seen her?" Connie was slightly frantic, "She had the right to walk out, but I am worried about her."

"No we haven't, but we will look for her tomorrow. We all need some rest," he was slightly nervous, but the gem had looked like she would be able to handle things.

Connie sighed heavily, "Do you want to meet up tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah, let's do that," he said, smiling."

Steven did what was best for his team, he knew that they needed to relax and unwind. Azurite wouldn't get herself into too much trouble.

* * *

In the morning, Steven woke up to the sound of his phone ringing. It was already ten thirty but the gems were snoozing. He leaped over them to get to his phone and answered the call.

"Steven I am outside of your house, are you ready?"

"Yeah, let's go find her," he was determined to do so.

Peridot was groggy, but she woke up, "Steven where are you going?"

"Stay here Peridot, you can guard Vexus and the others, can't you?"

She nodded and fell back asleep next to Amethyst. They were all completely wiped from yesterday. Steven ran outside to meet Connie and they decided which places they should go to first. The two decided to run to the pizza place and ask the Pizza Family if they had seen a person matching Azurite's description. They said no, and so did the Fryman's and most of the other places. When Connie and Steven had exhausted their choices, they decided to go get donuts. After going inside, they saw whom they were looking for, selling donuts. She pretended like she didn't know them and sold them their treats.

"You are Azurite, right? Would you like to come back with us?" Steven asked.

"Um yes I am, but I already found someone to take care of me," she replied as Sadie walked in with a smile on her face.

"Heya Steven! How are you today?" Sadie was chipper as usual.

"I am good," he replied, smiling.

"Wait you aren't Rose? What are you then?" Azurite questioned.

"My name is Steven, I possess my mom's gem, what are you?" he asked the gem.

"I am somewhat human and also have my mother's gem," Azurite brightened, she finally found someone to relate to.

Connie watched the two interact, "Are all of your wounds healed?"

Azurite lifted up her shirt slightly and Connie saw that the wounds were almost done healing, but a strange device was attached to her. She didn't question it and shook the blue-eyed gem's hand.

"We are going clothes shopping tomorrow, do you guys want to come?" Sadie asked politely.

The blue-eyed gem gave them the puppy-dog eyes and they nodded yes. She was eager to make new friends to share her life with.

"Tomorrow at twelve, we meet at the mall. How does that sound?" Azurite was excited for the future, with stars in her eyes.

"Yes!" Steven and Connie answered.


	14. Chapter 14

Steven woke up the next morning feeling energetic; he was going to go to the mall with Connie! Peridot stretched as she had been sleeping sitting up in his bedroom the whole night. She didn't sleep very often, but when she did, her mind was black as if something was blocking her thoughts. The small green gem watched her frantic human search for clothes to wear.

Peridot mumbled, "Hey Steven, you should wear that jacket Connie gave you."

"Okay," he said smiling, "Oh my gosh I am so excited!"

"Where are you going again and for what purpose?" Peridot asked groggily.

"I am going to the mall to go clothes shopping with Sadie, Connie, and Azurite, want to come?" he smiled.

The green gem wanted to participate badly, but all she could do was stare at him. Steven noticed the hint of eagerness and took her hand, pulling her up to his level. He smiled a toothy grin and Peridot blinked rapidly deciding whether to go or stay. The Crystal Gems weren't in the house as they had left for a mission so she had no pressure except for Steven.

She hesitantly nodded, "Okay I will go with you Steven…"

His eyes turned into stars, "Yay!"

It would be Peridot's first time going to a store on Earth. She was nervous, but decided to go along with Steven. He put on his jacket and grabbed some money, giving half to Peridot. The gem smiled nervously as she held the green paper in her hands. She stashed the cash in her suit and followed Steven closely out the door. The boy checked his phone; it told him it was eleven thirty. The two walked out to Greg's van.

"Hey Dad, can you take us to the mall? We are supposed to be there at twelve to meet up with Connie, Sadie, and Azurite," Steven was chipper.

"Uh Sure, but who is this Azurite?" Greg was suspicious about this new name.

"She is a gem and needs new clothes. We are going to hang out with her," Steven reasoned with his dad, who ended up shrugging.

Peridot got into the van, the last time she was here was when she stole the communicator and tried to reason with Yellow Diamond. The gem sat next to Steven and within twenty minutes, they arrived at the mall. They saw Connie sitting on a bench with Sadie and Azurite. Connie and Sadie were always early to planned events. Steven and Peridot waved to the group as they hopped out of the car. Azurite rubbed her eyes when she saw a small green gem that looked like Vexus without her limb enhancers. Her sight was still horrible.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were too high ranked on the Homeworld gems," Azurite was cold, "And why is your hair yellow when it was grey?"

"Uh what?" Peridot replied confused.

Azurite blinked the blurs out of her eyes, "Oh whoops, sorry I thought you were my enemy."

Peridot blinked, "Who is your enemy?"

"She must not be named…" the gem's triangle grew slightly bigger as she thought about the gem in question, "She killed my Jade without mercy."

"Jade is one whose shards we found, right Steven?" Peridot wondered.

"Yeah, we have her shards," Steven said quietly.

Azurite's eyes widened, "Can I have them? I buried them a while ago but they were found by you guys."

"Sure but first things first, we got to get you some new clothes instead of these tattered ones!" it didn't take Steven long to get excited again.

The group went to all of their favorite places, going crazy shopping, getting lost in the moment. The two gems trailed behind, watching as the group bought random items. When the spur of the moment wore off, they got lunch at the burger place. Azurite and Peridot stared at the food, but didn't desire to eat it. The two awkwardly stared at each other while the others finished their food, conversing.

"Okay let's actually get some clothes for you Azurite, we all got caught up in the fun," Steven said smiling.

"Hold on, if she is really a gem, then why can't she faze in clothing?" Peridot asked with impudence.

"Because I am not all gem, I am less than a quarter human," Azurite was glad she held onto her humanity, but was slowly letting it go, "Every time I try to faze in different clothes, they look odd, watch."

She turned into light, but couldn't hold it and came out with sharp and jagged clothing. The clothes went back to their natural forms, dust slightly falling off. Peridot then agreed to help find clothes for her.

"Hey Connie, want to go shopping on our own? We should let Azurite get helped by the others," Steven smiled a toothy grin.

Connie nodded and walked off with him, the two holding hands.

"Okay Azurite, where do you want to go first?" Sadie asked, smiling.

The blue-eyed gem saw a clothing shop and walked to it, the group following her. She placed her long fingers on the silky fabric of a long sleeveless dress.

"It feels like Rose's dress…" the gem murmured.

"Do you want it?" Sadie asked her.

"No, I was just curious," Azurite withdrew her fingertips from the dress.

Peridot and Sadie followed her to a cut off plaid shirt and leggings set. She picked up the set from the rack and asked the girls if she could try the outfit on. They nodded as the gem went into the changing room. Within minutes, she walked out and stunned the two with her selection. The plaid shirt cut off at the waist, showing a little bit of belly while the leggings. Sadie was amazed, but wondered where the gem's old clothes were.

"Do I look okay? My clothes turned into ashes when I took them off," Azurite was unhappy about the loss but she liked her new clothes.

"Yeah, you look great, let me see if you can wear those clothes out of the shop," Sadie smiled, but Peridot frowned.

When the group was in line, Peridot whispered to the gem, "Perfect time to lose your clothes, right when you find new ones. Why don't you have shoes, do you want the human girl to get invested in you?"

Azurite shook her head, "No, I will pay her back someday. She has been very kind to me."

Peridot rolled her eyes, but decided to get serious, "Listen, if you ever hurt any of my friends, you will answer to me, pitiful gem. Don't underestimate my size."

The blue-eyed gem nodded slowly and when Sadie was done paying, walked with her to go looking for Steven and Connie. They found them in a candy store, holding one bag of sweets. When Steven saw Azurite, he was amazed at how different she looked with clothes that fit her.

"Hmm What about your gem, do you want to show it off?" the boy asked.

"I would rather not, it doesn't feel good to have a gem right now," Azurite replied.

"It's been a long day, do you want to come over tomorrow morning to see Jade's shards?" Steven was polite.

Azurite smiled, "Yes, I would love to."

The group broke apart as the members went to their respective houses. Azurite was still shoeless, but she enjoyed the feeling of bare feet on the ground.

"Hey Sadie?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you draw a picture of some really nice looking boots?" the blue-eyed gem wanted to test a theory of hers.

"Sure," Sadie got some printer paper and began to draw pictures of boots with cool designs on them.

When she had drawn several pairs, Azurite thanked her and began to imagine the boots in her head. Determined to make shoes, the gem turned into light, creating a pair of boots fused onto her legs. They ended up being all black with star tips. Azurite was happy she could faze new clothes onto her that she continued to practice going into light and changing her clothes. After an hour, the gem couldn't go into light form and collapsed. Sadie was proud of this gem for getting over her obstacles. The gem rested on her lap until the two fell asleep.

In the morning, Azurite woke up and stretched, noticing that her friend was still asleep. She stood up, walking to the kitchen to find some food for the human. The refrigerator had strange food items that the gem had never heard of. Her hands drew out a small box of fruits and ate a small round berry. She coughed it out, but supposed that Sadie wouldn't mind the taste, as she was human. The gem tiptoed down to her friend's room quietly. Sadie was still sleeping next to the bedside, but she stirred when Azurite lightly touched her shoulder.

"Good morning, Sadie, I have brought you some food," the gem smiled while Sadie sat up.

She yawned, "Hello Azurite."

The blue gem watched as she finished her breakfast and stood up excitedly, "Today we are going to see Jade! Aren't you excited?"

Sadie nodded, "Maybe we can ask Steven about your locator… It still has a heartbeat right?"

Azurite unbuttoned her shirt, "Yeah, it still says that the alternate is intact so it must be so. I guess we can ask him."

The two got ready to visit Steven's house, Azurite following Sadie everywhere she went. Her head started to hurt with an ardent pain, but it began to dull after a while. She hadn't seen her gem in a while, but when Sadie left the bathroom, the gem had a look at it. The red triangle had gotten slightly bigger, her once cold gem radiating slight heat. Azurite slid her hair across it to hide the existence of the daunting virus. The two walked out the front door excitedly and after walking for fifteen minutes, arrived at Steven's house. Sadie walked up to the front door, Azurite behind her and knocked lightly.

Pearl greeted them, "Uh hello you two" the gem still questioned the existence of this gem, "Are you here to see Steven?"

"Yes, we are," said Azurite nervously, for some reason she had bad memories of this gem.

The gem invited them in and Steven rushed over, "Hi! Oh my gosh, you have shoes now!"

"Yes, Sadie helped me make them," Azurite smiled.

Sadie smiled, "Hey Steven, can Azurite show you something?"

Pearl took two steps as the three of them walked to the bathroom, but Sadie said, "Alone."

The gem stopped and looked indignant, but heeded Sadie's words. She closed the door as Azurite showed Steven her monitor. His eyes were wide open, as he knew what the "Alternate" was. The three of them left the bathroom and went into the gem door. Peridot was with Garnet in the Burning Room, helping her bubble stuff. As the three entered it, the small green gem was slightly annoyed. She narrowed her eyes at Azurite, making her slightly uneasy.

Steven brought over two bubbles to Azurite, one was Jade's shards while the other was a gem that looked corrupted. The blue-eyed gem popped Jade's bubble and held the shards in her fingertips. They were like she last saw them, beautiful pieces of a once whole lover. Peridot wondered what the other bubble was, but her curiosity didn't get the better of her. Azurite pulled the bubble close to her monitor, causing it to beep faster and faster. All of a sudden, the red tinged bubble popped and the gem clattered to the ground. Garnet's fists went up in preparation, but nothing happened. The blue-eyed gem picked the gem up. It had become very heavy, the surface starting to get covered by a newly forming red triangle. The gem radiated a massive heat, but Azurite didn't want to risk dropping it. She pushed Sadie away from her and placed the gem on the ground. Jade's shards were in her shirt pocket when the gem formed. At first, it looked exactly like Azurite, but seconds later, it fell to its knees, turning into a pitch-black form. It wore a black suit with three red V-shapes on the each arms and legs. The scars from its eyes and mouth stretched down to the chin, glowing red. Its once blue irises rolled into the back of its head, the whites of the eyes turning red. Azurite's alternate cried out in pain, convulsing on the ground.

Its cries summoned three white wolves that appeared out of nowhere. As the corrupted gem stood up, it placed its hands on the wolves who struggled to escape but couldn't. Within seconds, the wolves were corrupted, turning black. Red triangles hovered above the group's gems. Azurite pitied the corrupted alternates, it was her and her friends, but they were unable to be fixed. The alternate couldn't talk, but it communicated some strange thoughts into the minds of its wolves. After it seemed like thirty minutes, one of the wolves lunged at Garnet, who had a tough time staying unbitten. She eventually threw it against the wall, but it got up and ran towards Sadie. Azurite picked it up, proceeding to through it on the ground. Hurting her friend made her feel awful, but she wanted to protect the living.

"Sadie, take Steven and Peridot out of here," Azurite called over her shoulder, smiling.

Garnet was busy fighting the same wolf that attacked her before while Azurite watched as her friends evacuated. Suddenly, she felt piercing pain in both of her shoulders. Two of the wolves had latched their teeth into her flesh, causing her to fall backwards. The alternate walked over to her slowly, staring into the gem's pain twisted face. She moaned at the excruciating pain as the fangs travelled to her neck, clenching on her veins. The tall red gem groaned at the weight of the blackened wolf and threw it to the side, she ran forward only to be attacked again by the wolf.

"Azurite! I am going to get help!" Garnet called, running out of the room.

The blue-eyed gem struggled frantically as the alternate got closer. It tore her shirt so that it could see the monitor. Quickly, Azurite lifted her arm and punched the alternate in the face. The creature became angered, ordering its third wolf over.

" _WHERE IS VEXUS, GIVE IT TO US,"_ the alternate yelled, making Azurite wince.

Azurite could no longer use her voice, _"I have no idea where she is, can you stop yelling?"_

The alternate couldn't believe her words _, "YOU ARE LYING, TELL US ITS LOCATION OR YOU WILL BE IN MORE PAIN."_

The captive shook her head, accidentally knocking some of Jade's shards out of her pocket. A pitch-black hand reached for them, but Azurite speedily grabbed them with her hand and swallowed the bunch. The alternate became frustrated with the resistance, the grip of the wolves becoming more painful. Azurite squirmed as the third wolf, Citrine bit open her belly, the alternate's hand reaching in to take the shards. She screamed as the Crystal Gems ran in, weapons out. After the shards were collected, the alternate vanished out of the room using the shards. Sadie ran to the fallen gem as she trembled. She poofed into her gem, one of Jade's shards ending up next to her. The blond held the gem in her hands, tears falling from her face. Steven ran over to her side, followed by Peridot while the three Crystal Gems conversed about the existence of two Azurites. Peridot was speechless, unknowing of words to say.


	15. Chapter 15

A cold breeze blew over a small child who lay on the wet grass. Its hands twitched as it woke itself up. Brown hair blew in the wind while bright blue eyes stared in wonder at a figure in front of it. The child reached out and the figure took its hand, its sight becoming clearer by the second. Darker blue eyes looked gently into the child's as it picked her up in its arms. Long blue hair draped to the ground, lightly skimming it. The blue gem had the same gem as the child, dark blue. She spun around as the child started to grow up until it became a teenager.

"Is it really you, mom?" the teen asked.

"Yes, but we need to wake you up," the blue gem responded delicately.

"Am I asleep?"

"Currently you are," the motherly figure spoke, "Walk with me, Azurite."

Azurite followed her, holding her tender hand. The two walked for a long time, conversing about their paths.

"If you see any sign of yourself, take us there, we need to find your body," the blue gem said.

"Am I dead?" Azurite asked while adjusting herself to her current age.

"Sort of, your body was heavily damaged, but the gem side of you wants to live."

Azurite nodded and continued looking for a sign of her body. She didn't have a clue as to where it was, but she enjoyed walking by her mother's side. The gem didn't know anything about her mother, however, she felt like she had known her forever. She was a beautifully blue skinned gem wearing a combat uniform. Her name was also Azurite, but she was only called mother or mom by Azurite.

"What is it like to be human?" the mother asked, but when Azurite was about to answer she shook off the question.

The two walked through a field of flowers until they got to a forest. A path of golden light drew the two towards it. They walked along it until blood drops scattered across the path.

"Is that mine?" Azurite questioned the drops of crimson liquid.

"Yes, it is most likely yours."

Azurite continued to walk forward until she found her body. She touched the body lightly, but instantly felt the effects of death. The blue-eyed gem fell to her knees at the sight; uncontrollable blood loss had allotted her own side. Her body was had its ribs exposed, shoulders dislocated, and several holes surrounded her throat.

"Mother, I can't go on anymore," Azurite whimpered.

Azurite's mom placed her palm on her now feeble daughter, slowly soothing the pain in her body. The blue-eyed gem was filled with new strength as she stood up and stared into the lifeless carcass. She fell into it, feeling the walls closing in on her. Her voice would no longer work, but her mother continued to speak calmly.

"Daughter, to be human, it means that you have succeeded in life. I am proud of you and am sure that your father is too," she paused, "You were an accident, I must admit, but a beautiful one with soul. Your father was upset that he was going to lose me; you mustn't blame him for his errors. I wish that I could have spent more time with you two, but I could only watch you grow from a distance. Your gem will have severe problems the second you arise, but you are strong. Dearest daughter, I love you."

"Now wake up," the mother said, forcefully pressing her palms on Azurite's stomach.

* * *

Peridot stared out of Steven's window, cradling a small green gem. It had grown cold over the past week, no longer containing a bright color. The gem wondered when her acquaintance would come back. Her human friend had become sullen, after seeing the bloodied body of a fallen gem; he couldn't erase the image out of his head. She had let him sleep in late as he had become sickly. Peridot stood up, walked to the kitchen, and made chicken soup for her troubled friend. She tiptoed steadily up the stairs so that she wouldn't wake the sleeping body. All of a sudden, the light green gem floated into the air and formed a green suited gem who turned to Peridot.

"Vexus, you're back..." Peridot whispered.

"Yes, what happened while I was out?" Vexus responded.

"Well, we found a new gem, but she was defeated, we have a few new enemies, and Steven is sickly."

"Is there anything that I can do to help?"

"Yes, you can rest up while I take care of Steven, the gems are out for a while," Peridot was stressed, how would this gem react?

"T-The gems are stationed h-here?" Vexus was still nervous from the purple gem's violence, her hands lightly touching her throat.

"Amethyst is usually nicer than what she showed you," Peridot smiled.

Vexus nodded her head uncertainly, but she trusted the smaller green gem. Peridot nudged Steven awake, his eyes fluttering open. He sat up as the small green gem handed him his soup.

"Thanks, Peridot," the boy had a weak smile, "Heya Vexus, how are you?"

"Me? Oh I am fine, how about you?" the taller green gem replied.

"I feel just a bit sick, thanks for asking," Steven smiled again.

After the boy had finished his soup, he felt much better. Steven hopped out of bed and stretched, but an errant thought ran through his mind.

"Hey Peridot, did she suffer? Azurite, I mean?" he stood still, looking into her eyes.

"She is going to be just fine, remember she is mostly gem," Peridot wanted to console her friend.

He frowned, "She must have suffered… Her whole belly was open."

"You mean Azurite is here right now?" Vexus questioned insensitively.

"Yeah… She is with Sadie," Steven said solemnly.

Peridot gave Steven a long lasting hug, her warmth calming him down. Suddenly, the door banged, someone furiously trying to get the residents' attention.

"Steven it's me, Sadie! Azurite reformed, but she collapsed!"

The boy broke the hug and ran to the door, "Is she with you?"

"Yeah, she is in my car," the group hurried to the car, slamming the door on Peridot.

The gem walked over to the couch, why should she care about the welfare of that gem. It gave her nervous vibes when she would happen to come close to her. Peridot knew that something bad would happen if she let this gem continue to get her way.

When the small group got to the car, Sadie immediately picking Azurite's broken body out. Steven almost threw up, she was in a slightly better condition, but it seemed like she had been interrupted during the healing stage. Her eyes turned to Steven as she slightly rasped for air. He shook off the nausea and licked his hand, placing it on Azurite's exposed ribs, causing them to heal over. Azurite writhed slightly at the new feeling of being healed, she tried to reach out to Steven, but her arm fell back down. Vexus watched as her friend was healed, not knowing what to do. She put her light green hand on Azurite's warm cheek, lightly stroking it. The red triangle grew larger and the blue-eyed gem grabbed Vexus' arm, inducing a shriek of pain. Vexus tried to pull her arm away, but she only felt a hot pain.

 _"VEXUS, you will pay… You killed Jade!"_ the communication ran through all of the gem's minds.

Steven and Vexus fell to their knees, while Peridot held her head with her hands in pain. Sadie watched as the gems became weak, she was human so her usefulness was limited. Azurite stood up and shoved Sadie out of her way. The gem picked up Vexus by the arm, dragging her on the hot sand to some foreign destination. As Steven picked himself up, his ears ringing, he ran after Vexus. The small green gem formed a crude dagger and quickly cut off her arm. She grimaced as she fell to the ground, but speedily jumped up, trying to run to Steven.

"VEXUS!" Azurite's call ran throughout the city.

Within minutes, the black figure teleported to their location with its vicious wolves. It held the shiny green shards of Jade in its claw-like fingers. The pitch-black figure grabbed Vexus and opened a portal to a foreign destination, leaping into it. Azurite fell to her knees; she had hurt Steven and Sadie, what was wrong with her? Peridot ran out of the house to Steven, picking him up. She left him with Sadie, running back to Azurite with open fists. Peridot struck Azurite's gem several times with her fury, the red triangle chipping off piece by piece until it was a small dot. The blue-eyed gem shook her head and stood up, holding Jade's shard. Azurite grabbed the small green gem's unwilling hand, tugging them into a newly created portal.

* * *

The dark figure had leapt through the portal, dragging Vexus with it. It threw her to the ground, _"Do you know where we are?"_

Vexus looked around, after receiving the surprisingly gentle voice, she couldn't quite recall this area. Her arm still stung but she was getting used to the feeling. Dark Azurite watched as this gem that she had cared so much for wandered around the area, looking for clues. She felt slight guilt for the injury to her arm, but knew that what she was doing was all for Jade. One of the shards disintegrated after opening the rift and the gem had only a few left. Dark Azurite walked forward, she had learned a new trick with telepathy, but wasn't ready to use it yet.

The small green gem had finally figured out where she was, "I am where your friend was killed… Is there a reason why you have taken me here?"

Dark Azurite communicated, _"Yes, this is where you killed my Jade."_

"I what? No, I didn't do that, Pyroite did that," Vexus stammered, starting to fear her once friend as she loomed over her.

 _"Don't you lie to me, I thought you trusted me, why are you so scared?"_ Dark Azurite was becoming angrier as Vexus' seconds began to last a minute.

"I didn't do it, you want revenge, but it wasn't me," Vexus winced as the darkened figure's fingers reached out to her.

It realized that she would never trust her again and beckoned its wolves to lie down at her side.

 _"You now feel submissive and want to lay down,"_ Dark Azurite said in a sour tone of voice.

Vexus struggled, but she lay down, "Azurite please don't do this…"

 _"Your arm is hurting your whole body, you start to shudder,"_ the figure glinted as its captive writhed in pain, tears running down its face.

 _"You stop writhing, but you feel an inexplicable amount of pain in your head,"_ the captive tried to reach for its head, _"You form a dagger and cut your legs off."_

Vexus whined, but did just so, painstakingly losing both of her legs, _"Now your arm will get taken care of by Citrine, don't fight."_

Her arm was about to be removed when Azurite and Peridot jumped into where the two were. The blue-eyed gem saw her dark self, but charged at the dark figure. Darkened wolves surrounded her, but they paid no attention to Peridot who stood and watched. Dark Azurite kicked Vexus away while Azurite communicated to Peridot.

 _"Peridot, I know you hate me, but you must do what you did to my gem,"_ Azurite punched one of her best friend's gems, shattering it, _"Shatter them, they need to rest!"_

The small green gem gulped, but nodded to the blue-eyed gem. After the orange gem dissipated, the pureness of the gem floated upwards to the sky. Peridot watched as a blue-gemmed wolf ran towards Azurite, as she stared at the sky. The gem was knocked onto her knees, unable to get up. She looked to Peridot and mouthed the words, "Go get her."

The green gem ran as fast as she could, pounding her fists into the darkened Azurite's gem until it cracked. Peridot couldn't finish, but watched as the corrupted gem staggered forward. She fell to her knees in fear as the figure touched her face. The green gem fell asleep when the hand left her cheek. Dark Azurite charged forward, Azurite already sent the two other wolves to the heavens. She shoved her fist into the blackness, but it came back bloody. The blue-eyed gem spun around, summoning her pickaxe and whacking it into the face of her enemy. It drew a few drops of blood, but the figure shook it off.

Meanwhile, Vexus rolled down the hill, stopping at the feet of two tall gems. She lay on the ground, ready to fight with one arm, however, both gems knelt and healed her body, calming her stress and growing her arm and legs. Vexus stood up, but the two gems only smiled at her, "What can we help you with?"

The sweet voice rang through her mind, "Might you be able to help me save my friend from herself?"

 _"Yeah, we can help you, we were just on a trip up a pretty hill,"_ the green-eyed gem grinned, getting off topic.

"Emerald, we can talk casually later, lets go help this small gem, would you like to pick her up?" the blue-haired gem smiled.

 _"Anything for you,"_ Emerald shoved Vexus up onto her shoulders.

The three of them made their way up the hill and Emerald tapped her friend's shoulder, _"Jewel, that is Azurite, they both are, what should we do?"_

"We should fight her, is there a cure from the darkness?" Jewel questioned.

 _"No Jewel, there is none, all that have had it have died eventually,"_ Emerald frowned.

Jewel withdrew her sword while Emerald placed Vexus on the ground. The two charged at the Darkened Azurite, she didn't put up a fight, but disappeared, reappearing behind Azurite. As soon as she pulled Azurite inside of her, Vexus yelled her name several times, but she couldn't hear. Peridot stirred, awakening enough to walk next to Vexus. The green gem turned around and held onto her smaller green friend, sobbing.

"She is dead… My friend is dead…" her words were raspy, but she wasn't done yet, "I must destroy the pitch-black monster."

Peridot was slightly nervous, but she couldn't stop Vexus from forming a large dagger. She ran to the beast and stabbed it through, destroying it. The sword ran through more than just the darkness. When it dissipated into the sky, Azurite lay on the ground writhing as Vexus' dagger ravaged her body. Vexus immediately withdrew her weapon as her companion stared into her eyes compassionately.

"Thanks, Vexus, I love you," Azurite's eyes closed, her body going limp.

When she finally poofed, her smoke roamed around Vexus' small body. She held the small gem, stroking it with her frail green fingers, "I am so sorry Azurite."


	16. Chapter 16

A long green dagger dissipated into the atmosphere as Vexus stood up shakily, holding tight onto a gem in her bloodstained fingers. The taller gems sat down on a rock together, they had headaches from the incident and no understanding of it either. Peridot put her hand on Vexus' shoulder to reassure her, but no reassurance was found in the gentle touch of a friend. The blue-haired gem leaned on her green-eyed companion, who in turn put her hand around her side.

"What are we going to do with these two, Emerald?" the gem asked.

 _"We are going to do what we can for now, Jewel. You and I can stick together,"_ Emerald communicated, removing her hand from her partner's waist.

She stood up and walked to the two green gems, placing her hands on their shoulders. When Peridot looked to her, she smiled a toothy grin. Emerald told the two to get up, using her arms to carry them to Jewel. Vexus' frail body was carefully supported by both of Emerald's arms once the brown-haired gem set Peridot down.

"She is shocked from her loss, but we can soothe her," Jewel said calmly, but she experienced retaliation from the small green gem.

"I don't need healing right now. I need Azurite," she sobbed slightly, but cooled herself off and shook her body out of Emerald's arms.

Vexus landed on the ground and pulled out one of Jade's shards, holding it up to the sky. Nothing happened, but Peridot picked up the rest of the green shards, bringing them to Vexus.

"Everyone needs to share a hug," Jewel spoke, "It might be uncomfortable, but we can all get home."

Peridot and Vexus nodded, while Emerald and Jewel smiled to each other. The group closed around Vexus, the gem teleporting them to a hillside that overlooked beach city within five seconds. Emerald became sick when they landed, but she shook off the headache. She reached for Jewel's pale hand, finding Vexus' by accident. The gem held it anyway and shrugged, shoving the small gem onto her shoulders. She fought at first, but started to enjoy the height, being able to look around at her surroundings with Azurite in her fist. The blue gem glistened in the sunlight as the taller gem walked, holding Jewel's waist and Peridot's hand.

"Do you guys live around here?" the blue-haired gem asked, "I am taking Emerald to where I used to live with the Crystal Gems."

"The Crystal Gems?" Vexus and Peridot said at exactly the same time.

"Yeah, you know, Pearl, Garnet, Steven, and Amethyst," Jewel smiled sweetly.

"Well, I am currently associated with them," Peridot looked nervously to Jewel.

 _"That's great, we are all going to the same place!"_ Emerald grinned.

Vexus faintly smiled, but continued to think about Azurite, was she okay? She hoped that her friend was going to be all right in the end, her injuries were very grave.

The group made it to Steven's house, conversing. Vexus was slightly quiet, but she appreciated her new height atop Emerald's shoulders. Peridot ran to the door and was immediately surrounded by her friends. She was hugged, profusely blushing green on her cheeks. Steven smiled, placing his arms around her, but wondered where Azurite and Vexus were. Jewel walked in and ran to Steven but he had no idea who she was. Emerald dashed in, without thinking, bumping Vexus into the top of the door. She rubbed her head, but hopped down, struggling to stand on her feet.

"Vexus! You're here, but what about Azurite?" the boy looked around her.

"She was hurt very gravely, she won't come back for a while," Vexus said, looking to the ground.

The green gem pulled Azurite out of her pocket, holding her delicately; she had accidentally cracked her gem with her long dagger. A small hole was blown straight through it, pieces missing.

"Do you know where the other pieces are?" Steven became concerned as she held her hands out, full of broken shards, but he remained calm, "Sadie is outside, will you go talk to her, she won't listen to us."

"O-Kay, I will try to talk to her…" Vexus didn't know what to say, but she decided to bring the blue gem.

The green gem walked outside while the group continued to talk to Peridot, Jewel, and Steven about their adventure. Sadie was sitting on a rock, she had expected Azurite to come back and that everything would be great again. However, only a small green gem that resembled Peridot, but had different aspects to it stood by her side awkwardly.

"Who are you?" she asked, slightly put off.

"I am Vexus, I was there with her…" the gem avoided eye contact, but managed to turn her eyes to the blond girl, "It was an accident, I tried to fight the dark creature, but my dagger went all the way to her body, I thought I only hit the fleshy part, but it seems I hit her gem."

"Why did you let that happen?" Sadie was frustrated, why had this gem let her friend die?

"I-It was an accident, I didn't mean to run her through…" Vexus clenched the gem, but became aware of her own strength and relinquished it, handing the gem to Sadie.

The hole was wide enough for the blond girl to put her finger in it. She winced when she thought how it felt for her friend to have such a huge gap. Sadie looked back up to Vexus and stood up slowly, frowning.

"It's your fault for killing Jade, you know that right?" Sadie grimaced.

"I didn't lay a hand on that gem," Vexus had become cold, only Steven knew the truth, "Look, you humans have no concept of life, she didn't die, she only broke into little tiny pieces!"

Sadie became angry, "No, it's you who has no concept of how valuable life is! If you really understood, you wouldn't have done it in the first place!"

"You are such a pitiful human! I hope they aren't all like you, you cry like weaklings," Vexus had no idea why she continued as tears began to fall from Sadie's eyes, "She is going to come back, why are you so pathetic about it?"

"I am going home!" Sadie said angrily.

"Not with her you aren't!" Vexus responded, stepping towards the blond.

Sadie shoved Vexus, but the green gem knocked her friend out of the girl's hand. It clattered to the sandy ground, heavy enough to sink in.

"You gems really are heartless," Sadie said, wiping tears out of her eyes.

The blond turned away, hopping into her car and driving herself home. Vexus fell to her knees, knowing that she had overdone it. She quit trying to be kind, Azurite wasn't here, so what was the point. The gem walked back into the house to the sound of gems conversing happily. She felt out of place with this group, but decided to sit on the ground next to Emerald, who had sat on the couch next to Jewel. Pearl could not accept that this gem was the one Jewel was in love with, but she was going to have to.

"Pearl, she woke me up and has protected me for a while now," Jewel smiled.

" _Yeah, Jewel and I are going to be together for a very long time,"_ Emerald communicated calmly, _"You are gonna have to get used to us!"_

Garnet smiled, she was happy about Jewel finding someone to spend her days with, but didn't know how Steven would fix the hole in the gem. The group had spent the day doing their thing in some foreign land, but she regretted not being there for Steven.

"Have you two tried fusing?" Garnet asked, grinning at the thought.

Emerald frowned and looked towards the ground while Jewel spoke for her, "She can't, there is something wrong with her gem. Emerald calls it a Virus."

Vexus stood up, "Wait, a Virus? That's what was afflicting Jade! If you have it then you won't survive."

The taller gem stood up, _"Vexus, how do you know about Jade?"_

"Well I uh, she… she got burned to shards by my previous teammate," Vexus stammered as Emerald got closer, "Don't come near me you filthy gem!"

She snapped, what did she owe these gems, they had let Azurite get absorbed, "Jade died pathetically, she didn't even try to save herself."

Emerald growled, Jewel tried to grab her arm but she shook it off.

"Vexus, you are taking it too far, calm yourself," Garnet spoke calmly, she looked to the growling gem, "Emerald, cool it."

She sat back down next to Jewel, "I thought you were a nice gem, something happened to you, you became selfish."

Vexus looked down to her feet, Peridot frowned, something had changed within her friend.

"Hey Vexus?" Steven asked after minutes of silence, "What happened with Sadie?"

"She went home fine," Vexus said flatly.

"You are horrible at lying," said Amethyst.

"Sadie is a sad excuse for humanity, she started to blame me for _her_ so I fought back and then she cried and ran away," Vexus paused, "She tried to take her from me so I pushed her of that girl's hands and grabbed her away!"

"Why won't you say her name, Vexus?" Emerald asked, "Why can't you just say Azurite!"

"I-I-" Vexus was interrupted.

" _Can you even do anything to help her? She could already be dead, don't you remember she still has humanity within her no matter how much it fades?"_ Emerald stared down at Vexus.

"I am going to leave," the small green gem stood up, and walked with Azurite's gem in her hand to the front door.

She pitched the last of Jade's shards straight at Emerald, who caught it. The gem frowned, but decided to stand up again, hair bristling.

" _You can't take my leader with you, you can't heal at all! We can heal her, just leave her here!"_

Vexus threw Azurite's gem on the ground and ran outside, being halted by the rain. Steven and Peridot were behind her instantly, "You can stay here with us, you don't have to go."

She turned to them, throwing her arms around them, but she quickly turned around and ran into the cold rain disappearing into the fog within seconds. Steven and Peridot went back inside, closing the door.

"Don't worry, I am sure she will be back in the morning," Pearl said, reassuringly.

Garnet nodded, noting the uneasiness of her friends in the room, "We should all hit the sack so that we will be ready for Vexus' return."

" _I hope she never comes back…"_ Emerald said under her breath.

"You too can't sleep together by the way!" Pearl said snappily.

"Yes they can," Garnet said, pulling Pearl, and Amethyst next to her.

Pearl rolled her eyes, but soon snuggled up next to Garnet and Amethyst. Jewel and Emerald took the couch, but Emerald stayed awake for a longer period of time. Peridot didn't feel like going to sleep, so she tucked Steven in and sat by his bedside. The small green gem listened as Emerald got off the couch, tiptoeing outside into the moonlight. She stood up and followed the taller gem secretly. Eventually Emerald got to a strange cave, sneaking into it in the pouring rain. Peridot followed her, steadily drying off in the strange warmth of the cave. Emerald sat down on a rock and used sticks to build a pit that resembled a fire. She then lit it using some strange Earth technique, watching it burn. Peridot stepped on a twig, which attracted the gem to be startled, but calm when she saw it was only Steven's friend.

" _Hello Peridot, what are you doing here?"_ asked Emerald, _"Is there something the matter?"_

"Uh… No, I just saw you get up and walk away so I was wondering if you were okay," Peridot smiled awkwardly, but Emerald patted the rock next to her.

" _I am sorry about my anger, usually I can control it, but that small gem… She disappoints me,"_ the gem looked at her hands, _"Peridot, it doesn't look like she could truly hurt a fly, why does she act that way?"_

"Well, she must be very stressed out about Azurite. When I first met her, she seemed like a robot, but she got better in the time I spent with her. Now, Vexus seems different, her stress levels are way high which has probably made her so hard to talk with," Peridot frowned, she was worried.

" _I just feel that she wants us to hate her…"_ Emerald communicated.

"It must be how she feels about herself," Peridot said.

" _Would you like to go look for her?"_ Emerald communicated, offering a possible adventure to the green gem.

"Sure, but let's find her quick before she gets into trouble!"

Emerald extinguished the fire with her hands and the two ran off in search of their friend into the foggy rain.

By the time it halted to a trickle, Peridot thought she saw Vexus, but she shook her head when it was only a rock. They went to a small forest, filled with flowers scattered on all sides of a thin walkway. Between the rocks lay a green gem, whose frail body couldn't move any longer. Her foot was crushed under several rocks, struggling to move it out, but not being able to. She groaned as Peridot moved the heavy rock off of her foot and Emerald lifted her into her arms.

" _Would you like me to heal you, looks like this won't kill,"_ the tall gem communicated.

"Sure, but please check my chest pocket…" Vexus almost whimpered with the pain of Emerald healing her foot.

She passed out, but Emerald reached into her pocket and found several blue shards. The two conscious gems were surprised, where had she gone to get these? They had no idea how to get where the dark figure had taken them that time, but these shards looked like enough to fix Azurite's gem. The sky had started to clear up by the time the two arrived at Steven's house. They were surrounded by the Crystal Gems as Vexus was carried to a warm welcoming blanket and Peridot and Emerald were hugged gently.


	17. Chapter 17

Wind rustled golden brown locks, stirring a sleeping being. The being's once bright blue eyes opened to a dust-ridden world, full of fire. A small collar containing the word "Azurite" engulfed the being's neck as she stared into a pool of water. Memories flooded back into the being's head as it started to pulse. The being watched her eyes turn completely black as her gem slowly cracked open leaving pieces of her to sink into the water. She stared into darkness, it felt airy inside of her head, like she was floating on top of the ocean. Azurite stood up light-headed and started to walk, remembering her mother telling her to look for her body.

The gem wandered into a forest filled with dead trees, the skeletons of forest animals, and soot. Small fires were burning away as she passed them; Azurite felt that she was losing time. She stopped walking and started to run, fires dying quickly around her and dust blowing over her. The gem eventually fell over her body, kneeling by its side to touch it lightly. It absorbed into her as she calmly fused with it. Her injuries began to heal slowly, but her monitor didn't budge. The gem couldn't bring herself to think about Vexus, could she trust her again? Did she kill Jade? The thoughts circled around in her head until she felt herself drifting away to some foreign land.

All of a sudden, the gem realized she wasn't waking up; she just lay on her back unable to move. Azurite started to panic, but couldn't hold the effort; she didn't feel whole, like something was blocking her from coming out. She thought about the hole in her gem, that was probably why she couldn't reform. The gem wondered if Peridot or Vexus or the Crystal Gems were trying to help, but after what she did to them it wouldn't be surprising if they left her. Azurite passed the time, thinking about all possibilities, worried about the future.

* * *

Forest green eyes opened as a small gem woke herself up from a deep sleep. She made observations that no one else was awake and pushed a warm arm off of her stomach. The gem stood up and stretched, quietly groaning. She felt slightly groggy from the other night, but wandered upstairs to find that her friend was also awake. Sunlight leaked through the windows, but no other gems stirred. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were out somewhere on a mission, but the rest of the gems stayed at the house to rest.

"Good morning, Vexus," her friend whispered, smiling.

"Good morning, Peridot," Vexus returned the whisper.

"Azurite's gem is over here," Peridot said quietly, motioning to the windowsill.

Vexus walked over to it and held it in her palms, the hole was quite big, but the green-eyed gem pushed it to her chest. The gem had turned darker than its usual true blue, but something else was missing besides several shards, the small red dot. She must have pierced through Azurite's gem enough to destroy that miniscule gem. Her arms went around Peridot, who embraced her back.

"You do know that we will have to fix her gem a bit more," Peridot loved the warmth of hugs, but couldn't say it, "Let's go to the barn to fix it."

Vexus nodded and the two walked the long way to the barn, through fresh grass and flowers. After twenty minutes, the two arrived at the red house, where Vexus first saw Peridot, working on the drill.

"We saved the Cluster a while ago, when you were in your gem," Peridot said starting up conversation, "You sure took a while to reform."

"Well, I needed to do a few things, plus getting my head severed was not very fun at all. I wonder if Amethyst will be kinder with my body in the future…" Vexus paused, "You certainly didn't take to long to reform did you?"

Peridot nodded proudly, "I didn't because I didn't have "to do a few things" unlike you."

Vexus smiled, "I guess everyone reforms differently."

"I don't think Amethyst hates you, remember yesterday she didn't say anything at all to you. She probably feels embarrassed about the whole ordeal," Peridot admired her purple friend's strength, "Once you get to know her, Amethyst is a great friend."

The taller green gem blinked in disbelief as the two walked inside of the barn. Peridot pulled out her workshop table, wondering whether or not Lapis was nearby. She wanted to see her friend again, but the blue gem had decided to go see the world for a while. Vexus watched as Peridot gently removed Azurite's gem and its shards from her hand, placing them on the table.

The gem flicked on the light to illuminate the shards, "Can I have your permission to heat up the shards so that they can fuse back inside of Azurite's gem?"

"Won't they just melt and deform? That might kill her," Vexus frowned, "Is there any other way?"

"Well I am not sure how much time she has left, we might need to hurry," Peridot was certain that heating the shards would help stick them together.

Vexus shrugged, "I guess we can try but let's stop if she isn't looking any better."

Peridot nodded and the two assembled a heating system made up of old human technology, they started it and looked for supplies. The gems found a welding mask, gloves, tongs, and a hammer in the small basement. Soon enough, the system heated itself until it was radiating with warmth. Peridot grabbed one of the gem shards with her tongs, placing it above the heat, it started to destabilize, so the gem quickly placed it in Vexus' gloved hands. Vexus placed it in the gem and hammered it in while Peridot prepared the next few. They continued the process until they realized that they were missing a shard. Peridot turned off the system and her mask, walking over to Vexus.

"Uh, do you know where the last shard is?" Peridot asked delicately.

"I-I don't… Azurite is probably already dead. Can Steven heal something that has nothing over it?" tears rolled down the green gem's face onto the blue gem.

"I don't think so, but what you need to do is calm down," Peridot spoke as her friend's hands started to shake, "It's only one shard, maybe she can come back without it."

* * *

Azurite felt herself warming up to an unbearable heat; she wanted someone to talk to. She struggled, to imagine her lover, thoughts falling out of her head as her gem became more whole and less fragmented. A small hand lightly stroked her long brown hair; she could only take a guess as to whom it was.

"J-Jade, could you talk to me for a while?" Azurite knew that she had let her go, but maybe on this plane, she did exist.

"Yes, my love, but I am only here until you wake up," Jade smiled sweetly.

"Hmm Maybe I will just never wake up," Azurite giggled, "I wish I could see how beautiful you look right now."

Jade shook her head, "I want you to be safe and move on from me."

"I thought I did move on from your sweet face though," Azurite spoke.

"No, you summoned me here, I was nothing before you called me to your side," Jade was sharp, "Azurite, I have left a piece of me within you that may have changed the timeline."

"Is it one of your shards?"

"Yes, it is the monitor-like thing on your chest that plagues your every step. I put it there so that you could save the alternate version of yourself, but it looks like someone wrecked its body completely," Jade paused, "Once I remove this from your chest, you will need immediate help from the boy called Steven or Emerald."

"Emerald is here now?" Azurite was excited.

"Yeah, she has found someone to love her," Jade grinned, but it turned into a frown, "Azurite, I am removing it now."

"Okay, I got this," Azurite smiled.

Jade placed her small hands on Azurite's chest, undoing the buttons on her lover's chest. She then hooked her delicate fingers underneath the monitor, tearing the piece of machinery out and eliciting a yelp from her partner. It poofed into a small green shard, clouds floating away. Jade placed her shard onto Azurite's chest where a large hole had signified that something was removed.

"I am so sorry for putting this into your system…" tears rolled down Jade's face as Azurite's right eye formed.

"Guess what Jadey?" Jade took her face out of her hands, "Eye can see you… Eye."

"Yes, you can see me with your beautiful eye," Jade's tears continued to flow.

"Why are you still crying, Jade? Did I do something?" Azurite wondered as her mind wasn't exactly whole yet.

"Yes! You loved me even when I hated myself. And now, you have to leave me, I can never be with you again!" Jade's tears flowed, dripping onto the unmoving Azurite.

"Don't worry, next time I get murdered, I will see you again," the blue-eyed gem smiled, "Probably won't be long, I ain't good at staying alive!"

"What does ain't mean?" Jade asked.

"It means that I am not good about being alive and not getting hurt," Azurite widened her grin.

"But…" Jade laughed through her tears, "You have to live and protect yourself. I don't want your gem to get broken."

"I know, maybe I will get better just because you want me to," Azurite wanted to touch her lover, but knew that she shouldn't move.

"Please don't look at your chest whatever you do," Jade said seriously, but continued to smile.

Azurite felt herself drifting away to some distant location, but couldn't contain her question, "Wait, Jade did Vexus kill you?"

As Jade opened her mouth to answer, Azurite saw everything go dark. She felt numb inside from sore loss. The blue-eyed gem closed her eyes, prepared for the future.

* * *

Vexus' hands shook until Peridot placed hers onto them. Their eyes met and the taller green gem held onto the smaller gem's hands. The two had become very close ever since the forest. They thought alike, felt alike, acted alike, but they were so different from another. All of a sudden, Azurite's gem glowed faintly, but Vexus was focused on calming herself down.

"Vexus! Look at Azurite's gem! She is coming back!" Peridot was excited; she had actually helped save this gem.

A glowing figure had formed, floating gracefully to the ground. It spun around, gaining color, looking with one eye to Peridot. The figure became more and more human until it fell to its knees.

"Hey Peridot how are you doing today?" Azurite whispered.

"Uh I am okay," she answered frowning at the gem's weakness.

"Azurite! Are you alright?" Vexus clamored, trying to get to her level.

"I am… Vexus? What are…" Azurite lifted her head.

"Y-Your eye it's… It's gone… And your chest, it's missing something," Vexus whimpered.

The blue-eyed gem collapsed onto the floor. Peridot almost threw up, but managed to pick the gem up off the ground and brought her outside of the barn.

"It would take us a while to get back to the house with her, I am going to run there and get Steven and the others, okay?" Peridot paused, "Can you stay here with Azurite?"

"Yes, I can," Vexus placed the blue-eyed gem's head on her lap while Peridot ran off to get help.

"Everything is going to be okay, Azurite," Vexus whispered, lightly brushing hair away from her gem.

She saw the small place where a shard was missing and put her finger over it, eliciting a groan from Azurite. The gem twitched, but calmed down, opening her eye.

"Vexus, did you kill Jade," Azurite asked.

"No, my teammates did, I couldn't help her… I turned away and it was all over, she shattered into pieces," a tear ran down Vexus' cheek, "She was so kind, when I turned around, she smiled at me even though she was burned to death."

"Sounds like her… You have waited for me for a long time, haven't you? I always wanted to meet you again and here we are having a conversation," Azurite smiled.

"I have, but things will never be the same again…" Vexus looked away from the blue-eyed gem.

"They won't because I am in love with you," Azurite tried to touch Vexus' face, but hit her shoulder, "Whoops depth perception is off."

Vexus held Azurite's hand to her face, "I love you."

The blue-eyed gem closed her eyes and passed out on her green friend. Vexus tried to shake her awake, but the blood loss had gotten too large. After fifty minutes, help had arrived, but the sight had become unbearable. The forest-eyed gem had placed her hands over the mess, but Azurite was already losing herself. Tears streamed down her face even when Peridot pulled her away from her friend. She fought, but lost her power as Peridot hugged her tightly.

Azurite was healed within minutes thanks to Emerald, Jewel, and Steven acting quickly, but she had not yet awoken. They brought her back to the house and rested her on Steven's bed. Vexus had calmed herself down and decided to stay by Azurite's side. All of a sudden, the gem thought about what she had seen the other day with Sadie. The human had taken a shard that had fallen off of the gem! She was a thief and Vexus needed Azurite's other shard to make her feel better. The gem informed Peridot and ran off to where Peridot said the blond would be, uncertain of whether she would help out or not.


	18. Chapter 18

The green gem grabbed her dog-tag necklace and powered through Beach City, only stopping when she ran into a guy with a red shirt. The guy stood up and rubbed his long blond hair, narrowing his eyes at the green gem that was struggling to get up.

"Hey! Watch where you're going next time, man," forest green eyes narrowed at him as he realized the strange color of her skin, "Oh wait! You are one of those Crystal Gems! I am going to take you in for questioning!"

"Don't you touch me!" Vexus clawed at any piece of skin she could get to, but nothing could stop the curly haired guy from picking her up.

"I am just going to take you to the light house for questioning, it won't be long!" the captor said.

They passed by the Big Donut and Vexus saw Sadie straightening tables, "Blond! Please help me get away from this human, I need to talk with you!"

Sadie turned away snootily from the pleading gem, but looked back when she noticed her fighting desperately to get away from her captor.

"Ronaldo, you need to let her go! She is my… cousin from out of state who likes to cosplay!" Sadie lied through her teeth, "Bella likes to watch anime and… stuff."

"Oh! Another person to cosplay with! Wait, she's a girl?" Ronaldo set Vexus down who ran behind Sadie.

"Yes Ronaldo, she is obviously a girl," Sadie frowned at the boy's lack of intelligence.

Ronaldo looked at Vexus, eliciting a hiss as she peeked out. The green gem stopped hunching and stared at the blond guy, he was much taller than her and she probably wouldn't have had a chance to escape without Sadie.

Vexus decided to trust this human girl for the time being, "I am only here for a while, but am definitely not a Crystal Gem!"

The blond guy looked at her in disbelief, but nodded his head slowly. As soon as he walked away Sadie marched back into the donut shop, slamming the door in the Vexus' face. An orange haired boy jolted awake, he wanted to talk to her but the blond only went straight past him into another room. Vexus walked up to the glass doors wondering how to open them, but all she could do was hit them with all her might.

"Human, open this door!" Vexus angrily shouted at the boy in the store.

He walked over, "Try pushing on them."

Vexus pushed furiously, falling on her face when they rushed open. The orange-haired boy rolled his eyes; he was different from the other guy. She got onto her knees, her fall loud enough for Sadie to hear. The blond walked out from the other room until she was near enough to Vexus to speak with her.

"I can't even look at you…" Sadie was angry at the small gem, "You tore apart Azurite's gem."

Vexus shook her head, struggling to get up, "I didn't want to hurt her, it just happened…"

"Yeah right! Something tells me that there was some other way for you to have 'helped' her!" Sadie was furious now.

The small green gem stood up, her fists clenched, "Now you listen, pathetic human, if you had taken her to a formal place of care instead of bringing her to the Steven's house!"

"You people are the only ones who know how to take care of other gems! I didn't know where else to go!" it was an utter shouting match at this point.

"Well if you put that brain to use and just brought her to the care facility then we wouldn't have these problems would we?" Vexus snapped, she had had enough of these humans, "Besides how did she even regenerate all bloody like that? What did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything to hurt her! When she saw you, she became a completely different person!" Sadie yelled, "What did YOU do to her?"

"I-I it's all cleared up now, please understand that your human lives will never be worthy to our gem lives!" Vexus started to realize the trouble she was in, "Just give me Azurite's shard now!"

"I won't, not after all that you have done. You should just give Azurite's gem to me," angry tears flowed down her cheeks, "You don't even know her."

Vexus grabbed Sadie's hand, but the blond threw her fist up and punched the gem in the cheek, cracking her visor. The green gem fell backwards onto her butt, holding her bruised cheek.

"Whoa Sadie, let's calm this down, okay?" the orange-haired kid hugged his tearing up friend.

"I know, Lars, but this gem is so cruel," the blond leaned into the hug.

The green gem was filled with mixed feelings as she staggered to her feet and ran outside along the beach. Vexus stopped when she was sure no one could find her, hiding in a cave. She collapsed, the blond had hit her harder than she thought and peridots weren't meant for sustaining injuries. Her hands felt the gem on her chest, thankfully it hadn't been scratched or cracked. The cave was cold and wet, water dripping steadily from the dark ceiling. It was littered with jewels and Vexus wondered if there were any sleeping gems within them. Luckily for her, there weren't but the sight of them made her nervous. She explored the cave, finding strange creatures and old human objects.

The gem got into the tighter part of the cave, discovering old gem records and technology. Secret plans to destroy the Earth were located next to plans about Azurite. She picked them up and read all about her friend, where she grew up, every experiment that was done on her, all data on her person, and about the red triangle on her gem. The red triangle was a highly concentrated fusion that existed to fuse itself to other gems and spread whenever a fusion was attempted. It would slowly take over the host until it sucked all of the energy out and then it would be able to meet with other Viruses to go assist the Cluster in forming. The list of the infected consisted of Azurite, and thirty other gems. She became fearful, that the infected gems were going to infect the already saved Cluster.

The gem scrambled out of the tunnel, but bumped into a threshold rock, causing a massive cave-in as the tide came in. Vexus whimpered as large boulders closed off her only exit. She struggled to lift them, but wasn't strong enough to do so. The gem tried to evade the falling rocks, but one hit her core, leaving it without a crack. She sighed in relief, but the space she was able to move around in was becoming limited. Vexus felt cold water underneath her feet as another falling rock hit her gem. For some reason it still hadn't cracked, but a larger rock tumbled down onto her back. She pushed it off of her, feeling a burning pain and fell to her knees. The gem held onto her dog tag, how had a mission to retrieve Azurite's shard turned into her last mission.

Vexus heard voices coming from outside the tunnel, but was unable to answer quick enough. How was Peridot so strong? Water rushed around her sides as tears trickled down her face, the pain becoming unbearable. Light entered the tunnel as two humans hurried in, moving rocks out of their way.

"Hey! Are you okay?" a familiar voice asked her, "You need to get out of here right now!"

The gem looked up, the two people were Sadie and Lars and they were trying to save her for some unknown reason.

"What are you waiting for?!" Lars exclaimed, "We can't hold these forever!"

Vexus struggled to get up, moaning as she picked herself up and crawled outside. Lars and Sadie threw their boulders down and ran out to the gem, recognizing the common symptoms of helplessness. The gem leaned on a rock, water lightly touching her feet.

"P-Please don't hurt me, I didn't mean to do it… I am really sorry if I upset you," Vexus whimpered, "I just really wanted the last shard, Azurite is in a coma…"

"We aren't going to hurt you, just try to calm yourself down," Sadie kneeled next to Vexus, "I'm sorry for chasing you out."

The gem nodded as unintentional tears rolled out of her eyes, "Sadie can I have a sign of affection from you?"

"Yes, but let me take you back to the shop where we can help you feel better," the blond smiled, "I am going to pick you up, okay?"

Sadie picked Vexus up gently and walked back to the Big Donut, going into the back room. Vexus was placed on a chair and given water, she tried to drink it, but spat it back into the cup.

"Hey Lars, can you man the cashier for a few minutes?" Sadie smiled at her friend as he nodded.

Silence filled the small room while Sadie fiddled with her thumbs, "You know, when Azurite reformed that time, there was something wrong with her… She walked up the stairs and fell backwards, hitting her head. Azurite still got up and went back up the stairs. Her injuries reformed so I put her in my car. She fought me, but I managed to make it to Steven's house. When I saw you, I immediately thought of the person who Azurite was always talking about. I'm really sorry for what I said earlier."

"It's okay, I didn't mean what I said about you either. You are very kind, but something tells me it's rare for a human to be so kind," Vexus paused, "Thank you for your kindness even though I was so cruel to you."

Sadie smiled, "I have Azurite's shard with me, here you go."

Vexus grabbed the shard and held it; sadly it still contained the red triangle. She held it up to the light and saw where the shard had attached itself.

"Might you have a drill that I can use?" Vexus asked Sadie.

The blond nodded and brought primitive technology over to the green gem. Vexus used one hand to hold the gem still and the other to drill at the red triangle, which chipped off instantly. Sadie boxed it while Vexus held the clean shard in her small green fingers.

"Want to come with me to bring it to Azurite?" Vexus asked, smiling.

"I would, but I have to work here. I will try to come over later," Sadie smiled back at the small gem.

Vexus wrapped her arms tightly around Sadie, "Thanks…"

Sadie returned the hug, but pushed the green gem off, "Go get her!"

The gem then ran out the door to Steven's house and not stopping for anything as she climbed up the hill. She hurriedly knocked on the door until Emerald opened it with a smile. Vexus ran right past her to the bed where Steven and Peridot were hanging around a distant body.

"Well we are going to have to heat it up somehow," Peridot was surprisingly calm and collective.

"Yep," Vexus replied, running down the stairs with Peridot.

The smaller green gem asked Steven to turn on the heating device. Peridot put Azurite's shard inside while he turned it on to 400ºF and as the device got hotter and hotter, the shard slightly melted. Vexus got on gloves and grabbed it, walking over to Azurite's sleeping body, stopping before she placed it in, would Azurite still love her? Adrenaline pumped through her body as she used her gloved fingers to place the shard in just the right place. At last the shard was in perfectly, the gem healing itself over. Emerald and Jewel stood behind her, Emerald's arm around Jewel's waist. Azurite's eye opened, the other still black, but it healed over slowly. She smiled, as Emerald walked over with Jewel to say hello.

"Emerald! How are you? You look great, oh so this is your girl!" Azurite was excited about all these people coming to see her.

"Oh hey Peridot, do you know where Vexus is?" the blue-eyed gem asked.

"She is right there…" Peridot pointed to where the small gem was, "Err Was…"

"Is she invisible?" Azurite smiled.

"Uh I think she is embarrassed," Steven spoke.

"Embarrassed about what?" the blue-eyed gem frowned when she realized why, "Well, I will go see her myself then."

Azurite started to get up off the bed but was halted by Peridot, "You can't get up, you still need to heal."

The blue-eyed gem blinked, "Don't worry, you, Emerald, and Jewel healed me up pretty good."

The gem stumbled down the stairs, but managed to get outside to look at the beach. Navy blue waves lapped at the shore where Vexus sat in the grainy sand, her head to her knees. Azurite staggered over, light-headed but as carefully as she could. Her gem felt super light, but she didn't know what caused it. She sat next to Vexus, who looked away from her.

" _Hey Vexus… It wasn't your fault, it was mine for getting out of control,"_ Azurite communicated calmly.

Vexus communicated back, _"Azurite, I can't be with you… I am just a small weakling that doesn't know how to love like you…"_

" _Shh, you are very powerful,"_ Azurite put her finger to Vexus' lips, _"Do you know the reason why my gem is so light?"_

" _Uh…"_ Vexus was flustered, _"I may have used a primitive human tool to chip the Virus from your gem…"_

Azurite broke the telepathy, "You what? That is absolutely magical! Maybe you can do that for Emerald?"

"Maybe, but she is going to have to sit very still and that might be a problem for her with Jewel around," Vexus smiled, tears running down her cheeks.

"Aw Why are you crying?" Azurite asked empathically.

"Because… Because you are finally here!" Vexus sobbed.

Azurite wrapped her arms around Vexus, pulling the small gem to her chest, "I love you."

"I love you too…" Vexus put her arms on Azurite's cheek, pulling her in for a kiss that lasted for a while.

The gems in the house were watching, stars forming in their eyes. Vexus was surprised by the stares, but she just wanted to be with her lover.

"Let's never be separated for more than a minute," Azurite smiled, stroking Vexus' gray hair.

"Yes, let's…" tears streamed down the small gem's face in happiness.

The breeze swept through their hair as the group went back inside the house to relax. Tension had left the atmosphere between the two gems. Azurite and Vexus decided to go for a walk along the sandy shores of the beach to get to know each other better.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Sorry guys for the late update! I hope you like it, there is going to be a larger one on Saturday. Thanks!**

During their walk, Vexus and Azurite had covered a good five miles as the tide slowly retreated back to the ocean. They had not separated for an hour, but Azurite had an idea. She disappeared behind a rock after telling her lover to stay where she was. The second she left, Vexus noticed a figure approaching in the distance that seemed to be coming towards her. Now, it stood in front of her, pulling its cloak off and exposing its corrupted body to the green gem who backed away. Eventually she bumped into a rock and felt a small hand touching her face, lightly stroking it.

"D-Don't touch me, Tanzanite…" Vexus couldn't make eye contact, "I am really sorry that you got corrupted."

The gem got to her neck and squeezed hard, causing the gem to feel slightly uncomfortable, "W-What do you want?"

"Re… demption… Redemption…" the yellow gem crookedly smiled, her gem leaking red fluid down her cheek.

"You can get redemption by taking your hands off of my neck," Vexus winced as she felt her gem being scratched at, "Please let me go so that we can talk better. Tanzanite, we can fix this. Wait, where is Pyroite?"

All of a sudden, Azurite's worn out body was tossed over a rock. Pyroite trotted over in her corrupted form, shoving her foot onto the gem's throat.

"Fu-Fuse with… us… or the mutant dies," the red gem croaked.

Vexus looked away, how humiliating for her lover to see her like this, pathetic and weak, "Fine…"

The gem fused, giving her green hand to the darkness. She turned into a monster that struggled to stand, its arms bending under the weight. Azurite woke up when she heard a large beast groaning in a strange language. Her vision cleared as the groaning stopped, the creature looking to her with both hate and sadness in its three sets of eyes. It had eight sets of legs/arms and the mixed skin colors of red, yellow, and green. Her face became horrified as she recognized the likeness to her lover.

"V-Vexus?" the blue-eyed gem was practically a toy to the large beast.

"Azurite… Please run… I am infected…" the creature croaked steadily.

"No, I am going to fix this, just stay calm and in control," Azurite spoke slowly as she formed her pickaxe out of her gem.

It grew to be three times as large as the blue-eyed gem. She trembled under its weight for several seconds as her body accommodated to the new weight. The gem swung her pickaxe across the beast's stomach, tearing it open. It only became angrier and grabbed the gem, squeezing the air out of her lungs. Azurite couldn't sustain her form much longer and poofed, her blue gem clattering to the sand. The beast was now under Vexus' control as it gently picked up the gem and threw it towards Steven's house. It looked towards the city and started to sprint towards it, with murder on its mind as control shifted.

Steven started to tear up as he cupped the small blue gem in his small hands. He didn't know what happened, but knew it had to be serious. A week later she had regenerated, but only fell to her knees. Emerald, Jewel, and Steven hugged the gem, but she sobbed harder.

Peridot walked over, "Crying won't help you now. Can you tell us what happened?"

"She…" Azurite spoke shakily to the gems, "She fused with Tanzanite and Pyroite. I don't know how long she will last."

"Oh… well we can help you look for her," Peridot put her green hand on Azurite's shoulder reassuringly.

The blue-eyed gem stood up and hugged the green gem. Peridot wrapped her arms around the warm body, enjoying the closeness. She was then surrounded by hugging friends, but still felt a small pit in her stomach.

A month later, Vexus was growing tired of the feelings of being constantly controlled. The wound that Azurite had given them stayed in place as the fusion wandered around aimlessly. Vexus' body was sore, but her counterparts' bodies freely roamed. A small red triangle had started to form painfully fast on the green gem. She desired to end the fusion, her thoughts jumped from place to place. The gem wanted death, but at the same time wanted her lover. At long last Vexus saw her opportunity to escape as the wound got dangerously close to a telephone wire. She used the last of her strength to push it forward as the wire electrocuted the fusion. It instantly broke apart, leaving the three lying on the rubble that they had created. Pyroite woke herself up and took Tanzanite into her arms to safety. Vexus found it hard to get up, but felt hands on her body as people with black uniforms.

"Hands off, humans…" Vexus croaked weakly but the hands carried her into a white vehicle.

Her eyes closed as a mask was placed onto her face. Vexus felt herself fading away into a deep sleep. She wondered where she was being taken, but pushed the thoughts keeping her awake away.

* * *

Forest green eyes opened as Vexus stirred in her bed. She looked to the side; a tall blond haired girl stood beside the bed.

"Who are you?" Vexus said quietly.

"I am your nurse, Jenny," the nurse's hair was shoulder length, "How are you doing?"

"Well enough to leave this place," Vexus narrowed her eyes, "Is there a way to get home?"

"Where is your home?" the nurse asked politely.

"It's in… It's somewhere but I don't know where for some reason…" the green gem sat up in the bed.

"You have amnesia, whatever happened made you forget where you live," the nurse looked at the flat lining monitor and back to the gem, "Do you remember the name of someone who you know?"

"Yeah, Steven, Amethyst, and…" Vexus paused as the nurse was writing on a notebook, "One of Steven's friends was Connie…"

"Oh! I know a Connie," the nurse smiled, "She is Doctor Maheswaran's daughter."

"Can I see her? Also can you turn this off, it's really annoying," the nurse obliged and walked off.

Vexus squirmed under the heat of the expanding red triangle. It had only been a month yet she was experiencing stage two symptoms. The virus leaked onto her chest, burning her skin. When the nurse returned, Vexus' cheeks flushed green as she writhed under the weight of the red gem.

A girl with dark curly hair rushed to the gem's side, "My name is Connie, can you tell me what is going on?"

"Hello Steven's friend, I seem to have a minor problem…" Vexus shivered.

"Can you show me?" Connie responded carefully.

"Yes I can," Vexus groaned, taking off her hospital gown and exposing red veins, extending across to her arms, legs, and neck.

"You are a gem?" the girl asked, frowning.

"Yes," Vexus grabbed Connie's shoulder, "I have a virus, you should call Steven, he should know what to do… For some reason, my memories are blurred…"

All of a sudden, a red triangle formed over the decaying gem, "I will call him right away."

As the girl dialed the number, Vexus started to corrupt. She hopped off the bed and walked out the door. Connie tried to catch her, but she wasn't fast enough as the gem sprinted away.

"Hello? Connie, what's up?" Steven's voice asked from the phone, but there was no reply.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Hey guys! This is the last chapter of Azurite! I am making another compilation of stories that happen in between Azurite. I really hope you enjoyed my fanfic. Thanks for staying with me!**

The sun had set on the ocean by the time the telephone had started to ring. A boy wearing a red shirt with a star on it ran to answer.

He took a deep breath as his friends surrounded him, "Hey Connie, what's up?"

"Well, a gem was admitted to the hospital," the girl was quiet again.

"Do you know if it was Vexus or not?" Steven questioned, "She looks like Peridot, but has gray hair and is slightly taller."

"Yeah, I think so… She ran away earlier this afternoon," Connie paused, "There were long red veins on her body and fluid leaked out of her gem."

The surrounding gems continued to listen to the phone, "Do you know where she could have gone?"

"No… She looked very sick so I don't think she could have gone far," Connie tried to calm herself down, but she had seen a similar sickness within other gems that had been admitted, "I think she is very dangerous and unstable, we need to find her soon."

"Okay, I will meet you at the hospital, stay calm," Steven reassured his friend the best he could as he hung up, "How are we going to get over there?"

Emerald and Jewel looked to each other, "Emerald can turn into a wolf."

Steven nodded as the green-eyed gem transformed within a matter of seconds. Amethyst, Pearl, and Garnet were still gone on a mission so the group didn't have much of their help. Azurite thought about her lover, she was already in Stage 3. The blue-eyed gem was amazed that Vexus had lasted this long in fusion form, but knew that her condition was serious. Jewel had to continuously heal Emerald's gem so that the triangle wouldn't take her over. They knew that she was eventually going to have to get it drilled but she was slightly reluctant, as someone would have to crack her gem.

Emerald knelt so that the group could get on and burst through the door. She ran to the city along the freeway careful to not to hit any cars and within thirty minutes, the group arrived at the hospital. Helicopters were flying overhead as Emerald let her passengers hop off. She transformed back into her humanoid form and the group walked into the hospital.

 _"Think that all of us can find her?"_ Emerald wondered aloud to the group.

Azurite nodded, "I sure hope so…"

Peridot and Steven reassured her, "Don't worry, with all of our help, we will be sure to find her."

The blue-eyed gem doubted that they could locate Vexus quickly, but continued to walk to the help desk. Connie looked to the group nervously and led them to the green gem's bed. Red liquid was dripping from the sides, forming large puddles. Steven touched it lightly and felt a small burning sensation.

Emerald looked at his fingers, healing the skin that had burned. All of a sudden, a small red object formed on the ground. It tried to take shape, but it needed more of the red liquid.

Azurite picked it off the floor and held it in her hands, "It looks like one of the viruses… We are going to have to clean all of this mess up before it starts forming."

By the time they had cleaned the mess up, Steven noticed small drops of the red liquid making a trail out of the door. Most of them had evaporated, but the group decided to follow what remained of them. When they exited the hospital, small traces were found of the liquid leading in three directions. The group split up in pairs, Emerald and Jewel, Steven and Connie, and Peridot and Azurite. Emerald and Jewel didn't find much on their end, but they saw that as the night got colder, the liquid solidified into small stones. They looked to each other worried, but continued to search. Steven and Connie ran through the dark alleyways, but couldn't find any traces of the liquid after a while. Azurite and Peridot wandered through the city, the trail had ended but neither one was ready to give up.

"Maybe she went somewhere pretty?" Azurite wondered aloud.

Peridot looked to her, concerned, "Perhaps… Where do you think is pretty?"

"Some tall building or a hillside, she likes to look at the beach," Azurite frowned, "We aren't going to find her are we?"

"Don't start worrying now. We will find her before the night is up," Peridot put her hand on the blue-eyed gem's shoulder as she nodded.

The two walked around, trying to look for their friend on towers. She was nowhere to be found. Eventually they went to the hillside that was once covered in thousands of flowers, but was now infested by weeds. Small footsteps led them to a ledge, where a small dark figure sat.

"Vexus?" Peridot asked slowly, "Is that you?"

The figure turned around, its eyes were completely red and its gem was mostly decayed. It reached out to Azurite, but dropped its hand to the side and continued to stare into the distance.

"It's me, Azurite, and you remember Peridot, right?" the blue-eyed gem blinked tears from her eyes as she got closer.

"Stay back or I will infest you," the figure said, holding its head in its hands.

"Please, you are my love. I will never leave you again…" Azurite crept closer and closer as Peridot stood still, sensing danger.

"You said that last time, and look what happened…" the figure started to growl as Azurite's hand was placed on its shoulder.

"I wanted to get you something that was hidden a while ago, but I was ambushed by Pyroite," the blue-eyed gem wrapped her arms around the figure, shooing away some if the darkness.

The figure cried tears of blood red fluid as red veins spread across her body, threatening to exit, "I… I am going to die filthy aren't I?"

"No, you aren't going to die Vexus," Azurite held her lover tighter, "Just stay with me."

At last the veins pierced through the darkened flesh, causing Vexus to arch her back painfully, "Kill me!"

"No, we can save you!" Azurite shouted as red veins engulfed her.

"Peridot let me die a gem…" Vexus looked to her friend with bright red eyes that were falling apart every second.

The green gem called Steven on her cell phone as she heard pained cries. They said they would be there soon. Azurite stayed near her lover, holding on tight to her soul. Vexus started to shiver as her gem started to crack, but felt hands holding it in. She groaned and held the fingers, feeling how cold they were.

"Azurite, you are going to die unless you let go of me…" Vexus paused, "I love you, please live."

The blue-eyed gem shook her head as her mouth was being shoved full of veins, but felt herself being pushed away. She was shoved out and disconnected from her lover as her teammates arrived. Azurite watched as the veins devoured Vexus, turning her into a monster that couldn't stand tall.

The blue-eyed gem put her hands on the chest of the beast, _"Vexus baby, can you hear me?"_

" _Yes, I can, but you need to move before I CONSUME YOU,"_ the beast roared.

" _You feel the veins leaving your side and retreating to the inside of your gem. You are past Stage 4 but are going to Stage 3. The triangle is beginning to get smaller steadily,"_ Azurite's nose started to bleed as the transformations on her lover regressed, _"Your evil feelings are receding back into the triangle… You feel very steady as you begin to use your own power to push the shadows away."_

Vexus' body had unintentionally followed the steps as she became more and more humanoid, but her lover hadn't finished, _"You feel comfort from deep within as you speedily recover."_

The gem did so and ran to her lover who had fallen to her knees. Azurite coughed a few times, but stood slowly, holding Vexus' hand, lightly stroking it.

"Your hands are so cold, they are like ice…" the green gem blinked tears from her eyes as she watched her lover degenerate, "Stay with me… Azurite, don't leave…"

" _I won't leave you, don't worry… I just feel a little sleepy,"_ Azurite began to stoop, _"Looks like I used up a lot of energy…"_

"How do we stop it, Steven? Emerald?!" Vexus was frantic as her lover faded away, "Come on!"

"I-I don't know, my mom would but I don't!" Steven looked to the ground; the boy couldn't do anything at this moment.

"Why don't we just heal her like crazy? Won't healing make her better?" Peridot thought rationally.

Emerald and Jewel looked to each other and nodded, huddling around Azurite. Steven joined them, licking both of his hands as the group healed the blue-eyed gem. Within seconds, the withering gem gained the strength necessary for regenerating more of her energy. She stood tall, wrapping her arms around her lover. Tears rolled down Vexus' face as Azurite picked her small body up. Steven and Connie smiled while Peridot breathed a heavy sigh of relief. The second the blue-eyed gem's fingers touched her lover's gem, a crack formed.

Vexus laughed, "I knew it was going to crack at some point!"

Emerald made laughing gestures while Jewel giggled lightly while Connie and Steven hugged happily.

"Let's not heal this crack yet, we need to drill out the virus," Peridot said calmly as the group nodded, "Does anyone know how to make objects out of their gems?"

Jewel was the only gem with some idea of how to do so besides Peridot, but she had never made a drill before. Within minutes, a somewhat functional drill was made and prepared to get the shadow out of Vexus' decaying gem. Her lover held her as the evil was removed from her core. She stood up and felt light-headed while the malevolent triangle was stuffed in Steven's pocket. Vexus smiled, feeling her gem; most of the decay had gone away, but the rest needed time.

As the group walked down the hill, they saw two foreign figures wandering up to them.

Emerald growled steadily, transforming into her wolf form, _"They are way past Stage 4, their gems are long decayed. We probably can't save them."_

Jewel nodded, drawing her sword to protect the ones she loved. Azurite pulled out a growing pickaxe from her gem, letting Vexus rest. Her lover was already terrified, seeing her abusers, but she was surrounded by friends and felt the worries seeping away. Pyroite's hand reached out for the group while Tanzanite's daggers searched for blood. Steven defended Connie while she destroyed each of the daggers. Azurite whacked at Pyroite until she fell to her knees.

" _Should we break them?"_ Emerald asked her leader, her teeth half an inch from the decayed red gem.

"No," the blue-eyed gem paused, "We can probably try something to make them feel better."

"But they made me suffer for thousands of years…" Vexus became silent when her lover looked to her.

"We will make them answer for their actions later," Azurite said firmly, "I am sure that these two are the ones that killed Jade, but I believe that it has been a long time since then."

Angry tears ran down Vexus' face, "They _deserve to die!"_

Her lover embraced her, kissing her green lips, _"Remember, we don't want to make your gem any worse, stay calm."_

Vexus nodded as Azurite ran at Tanzanite, bringing her to her knees. The corrupted figures attempted to fuse but were halted by Garnet and Amethyst.

"Garnet! Amethyst! Pearl!" Steven shouted happily, greeting his friends.

Pearl spun around, "Hey Steven, we are finally back!"

Pyroite forcibly shoved Garnet and Amethyst away, trapping them with shadows. Tanzanite wrapped Azurite in darkness, picking herself up to stand in the blue-eyed gem's face. Vexus stood and ran to her lover, trying to break the chains. She tried to form her dagger, but couldn't concentrate. As her teammates began to get trapped in shadows one by one, she frantically cursed her weakness.

"Pull the sword out of my gem babe!" Azurite shouted as she was steadily engulfed in darkness.

Vexus leapt onto the shadow and grabbed the forming object from her lover's gem. She collapsed under the weight but mustered enough strength to stand up and charge Tanzanite. She swung at the once yellow gem's chest, but missed, landing on her butt. As the two corrupted gems got closer, Vexus released the last bit of her energy, cutting the shadows out of them. The second the shadows were cut from the two gems' bodies, the darkness left the group, freeing them from evil. Azurite ran to her lover as she fell to her knees.

"Thanks for freeing us…" Pyroite croaked as her gem decayed quickly.

"Vexus, we are sorry for all the horrible things we did…" Tanzanite paused while crawling to her lover, "I love you…"

She collapsed onto her as pieces of them floated into the atmosphere, "I love you too…"

"I forgive you," Vexus said, tears rolling down her eyes, "I shouldn't have left you."

The two gems smiled, shattering into millions of small shards on the ground that blew away into the atmosphere. Azurite knelt down next to Vexus and wrapped her arms around the small gem.

"I left them on Homeworld! It's all my fault!" Vexus had put her hands to her face, "Azurite… They only fused with me to get help… I just let them get worse."

"Shush, it wasn't your fault… You did your best," the blue-eyed gem paused as her lover turned to face her, sniffling, "We all know that you tried."

Azurite kissed her lover's forehead, "You are my lover and it will stay that way forever."

Vexus placed her lips on her lover's, closing her eyes, _"I love you Azurite…"_

" _I know,"_ the blue-eyed gem replied, embracing her green gem lover.

The group clapped as Vexus realized that they were being watched. Her and Azurite stood up, happily holding hands as the gems headed home. It was later decided that Jewel, Emerald, Azurite, and Vexus would go on a journey to see the world. Vexus walked over to Peridot and wrapped her arms around the green gem. She returned the favor and smiled, knowing that this would not be the end. As soon as the gems were done hugging each other, the group of four left, travelling far away.

THE END


End file.
